5 players to watch as Bruins get back to work vs. Ducks
After two weeks off for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Bruins are officially back.
And for the Bruins, the return will have to come with a 0-to-60 approach, with Boston beginning the stretch run on the outside looking in in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. And with yet another injury to manage, with franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy out for an undetermined amount of time due to a ‘significant’ AC joint injury (and later an infection) sustained during Team USA’s tournament run.
It’s not the start the Black and Gold would’ve hoped for coming out of the break, and though the math is improbable, it’s not impossible. Current projections would indicate that the Bruins need to amass 30 points over their final 25 games of the season to qualify for the 2025 postseason.
And a Saturday night showdown against an Anaheim club that’s won just 11 of 26 games on the road this season should provide the Bruins with a solid chance of beginning that run on the right foot. But with the Bruins, the only thing that’s consistent has been their inconsistency, and nobody knows how any team is going to come out after two full weeks off from NHL game action.
Here are five players to watch when the puck drops tonight at TD Garden…
David Pastrnak
For about two full months now, Bruins superstar David Pastrnak and done and said all the right things. Producing a Hart Trophy-level for the last two months, Pastrnak arrived back at the B’s practice facility this past week and had just about no interest in talking about the 4 Nations Face-Off (which did not include his country) or even the 2026 Olympics, which will feature his native Czechia. Instead, Pastrnak kept the focus on his Bruins, and doing whatever they needed to do to earn a spot in the 16-team dance.
I firmly believe that we are watching Pastrnak grow into a stronger leader before our very eyes here, and if he can continue to produce at the clip he was prior to the team going on break, they will have a chance at smashing the aforementioned ugly math and remaining in the hunt.
Pastrnak rode into the break on a 13-game point streak — and with 11 goals and 26 points over that 13-game run — and comes into tonight’s contest with killer career figures against the Ducks, with 11 goals and 18 points in 16 career head-to-heads with Anaheim.
Nikita Zadorov
In addition to the McAvoy injury added to their plate, the Bruins will come into Saturday’s contest still without Hampus Lindholm (lower body), and with Mason Lohrei considered a game-time decision due to an illness. That could put a lot of stress on the Black and Gold’s left side, and may require the Bruins leaning on a big-time effort from the 6-foot-6 Nikita Zadorov.
It’s been a bit of an up-and-down year for No. 91, to say the least, but he did go into the break on a positive, with a goal and an assist in Boston’s Feb. 8 loss to the Golden Knights. The Bruins also leaned on Zadorov for 25:55 of time on ice in last Saturday’s head-to-head with the Golden Knights (trailing only his 26:01 of ice-time in a Feb. 1 win over the Rangers at TD Garden for his highest of the year), and Zadorov’s six blocks over the final week before the break ranked tops among all Bruins.
Matt Poitras
On a team starved for more scoring pop down their lineup, Matt Poitras has certainly helped deliver of late for the Bruins, with seven assists in 12 games since being recalled from the minors last month. Now, what’s been interesting about that is that the points have come in bunches for Poitras, with all seven of those points over a span of just four games, and with the Bruins holding a 4-0-0 record in those games.
The Bruins also decided to keep Poitras active during their two-week break, with the crafty pivot sent down to AHL Providence before the team officially went on break. He appeared in one AHL game during that stretch, and scored a goal on one shot in that game. Not too shabby.
Boston will need more of that from Poitras, who projects to center a line with Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau on the wings tonight. And this is an Anaheim team that Poitras has actually posted decent results against, with two goals and an assist against in two showdowns last season.
Frank Vatrano
It’s a homecoming for the East Longmeadow Sniper himself, Frank Vatrano, tonight at TD Garden. And beyond the obvious of coming back home and playing in front of friends and family, the 5-foot-11 Vatrano should feel good about where his game is at coming into this game, as he went on break with five goals and an assist in his final eight games leading up to the break.
In fact, the calendar flipping to 2025 has been a positive for Vatrano overall, with seven goals and 11 points in 18 games since Jan. 1, which ranks second among all Ducks.
A player who has never seen a puck he didn’t want to fire on goal, Vatrano has been one of the league’s most effective goal scorers since the Bruins traded him on Feb. 22, 2018, as his 156 goals since then are tied for the 59th-most in all of hockey over that span. Despite his numbers, though, Vatrano hasn’t exactly stuck it to the Bruins in the post-trade head-to-heads, as he comes into this game with just four goals and seven points in 17 games against Boston.
Also, in case you’re a nerd like me and are wondering whatever became of the pick acquired in the Vatrano trade by the Bruins, here you go: Boston selected Jakub Lauko with that third-round pick, and eventually flipped Lauko to Minnesota on the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft, leaving you with a trade tree return that currently consists of depth forward Vinni Lettieri and defenseman Elliott Groenewold, taken by the Bruins in the fourth round in 2024. A freshman at Quinnipiac, Groenewold has put up four goals and four assists, along with a plus-3 rating, in 31 games this season.
Leo Carlsson
Anaheim’s top-line center, Leo Carlsson is a definite player to watch whenever the Ducks hit the ice, and Saturday night in Boston will be no exception.
The No. 2 overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft, Carlsson comes into this contest after skating with Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and with three assists in his final three games for the Ducks leading into the break.
Carlsson, who will skate between Trevor Zegras and Alex Killorn on Anaheim’s first line, also excelled in his lone head-to-head with the Bruins a year ago, with a goal and an assist for the Ducks.
