It’s early, and it may not be saying much given their schedule to date, but there’s no denying that Saturday night in Los Angeles will feature the B’s toughest task to date.

“[The Kings have] speed, depth down in the middle [and] will be a real good challenge for our team,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said following his team’s morning skate. “They play fast, play with a lot of discipline within their structure. It’s gonna be a real test for us.”

The Kings are also coming off what was a seven-goal explosion Thursday night in Minnesota, and will be more than motivation in their return to their home rink, where they’ve opened the year at 0-1-1.

And to only complicate things further, the Bruins will be down a top-six winger for this contest, with Jake DeBrusk slated to sit as a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting.

• With DeBrusk out, the Bruins will move Milan Lucic up to their top line, while Patrick Brown will make his Bruins debut as Boston’s fourth-line right wing. On the backend, the Bruins will sit Kevin Shattenkirk and allow Ian Mitchell to make his Bruins debut. Both Brown and Mitchell watched the first three games of the new season as the Black and Gold’s healthy scratches.

  This will be the first of two meetings between the Bruins and Kings in 2023-24. The sides split last year’s season series, with the Bruins winning the road contest by a 5-2 final.

  Here are four players to watch when the Bruins square off with the Kings in LA…

   

• Pavel Zacha

  

  Sep 29, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) gets set for a face-off during the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

• With Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci no longer in the picture, second-year Bruin Pavel Zacha is now considered Boston’s top-line center. Naturally, that comes with more responsibilities (and at both ends of the rink), but it also comes with stiffer competition thrown your way. Especially on the road.

  And if the Kings treat Zacha like how they treated Bergeron during the B’s visit to California last year, this one is going to feature an awful lot of Phillip Danault on Zacha (and David Pastrnak). That’s probably not what Zacha, who is still looking for his first point of the new campaign, is looking to see. But the Bruins are going to need Zacha to break through and get on the board to truly get that line cooking, especially with Pastrnak already appearing to be in midseason form with four goals through three games.

  (Not gonna lie, I originally had this spot earmarked for Jake DeBrusk. Well, we know what happened there.)

• Matt Poitras

  

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 05: Matthew Poitras #51 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 05, 2023 in New York City. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

• This is a big night for Matt Poitras.

  After a strong preseason, and a strong opening two-game run in the NHL, the 19-year-old Poitras had his first ‘dud’ of a showing Thursday night in San Jose.

  Deployed for 12:18 of action, Poitras finished with a minus-1 rating, failed to record a shot on goal. Now, Poitras did finish with three straight faceoff wins after beginning the night with losses in five of his first six battles at the dots, but it was an otherwise quiet night.

  Nights like this are going to happen when you’re a teenager adapting to life in a league of men. But it’s really about how you recover, adapt, and perform the next time out. And the Kings are certainly going to present a challenge for Poitras, especially down the middle, with Anze Kopitar, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Phillip Danault all at center for a loaded Kings club. If Poitras can recalibrate and put forth a noticeable game against this kind of competition, that is gigantic for Poitras and the Bruins.

• Adrian Kempe

  

  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 20: Adrian Kempe #9 of the Los Angeles Kings celebrates a goal against the Calgary Flames in the second period at Crypto.com Arena on March 20, 2023. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

• The Kings’ top-line right wing, Adrian Kempe is coming off what was a career year in 2022-23, with 41 goals and 67 points in 82 games. The left-shooting Kempe enters this contest riding the high of a one-goal, two-point performance against the Wild on Thursday night, too, and has three points through four games this season.

  The Swedish-born wing also has the distinction of being a rare King with solid career numbers against the Bruins, with three goals and six points in 10 meetings with the Bruins. Two of those goals came in last year’s two-game series between the Bruins and Kings, too.

• Pierre-Luc Dubois

  

  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 11: Pierre-Luc Dubois #80 of the Los Angeles Kings waits for a faceoff during a 5-3 loss to the Avalanche in the Kings’ season opening game at Crypto.com Arena. (Harry How/Getty Images)

• The latest star addition to the Los Angeles lineup, second-line center Pierre-Luc Dubois has certainly done his part to get off to a strong start in his third NHL city, with three goals through four games.

  Dubois has also posted goals in back-to-back games, with his first as a King (fittingly) scored in Winnipeg on Oct. 17 and a two-goal outing against Minnesota this past Thursday.

  It’s also worth noting that the 6-foot-3 Dubois has struggled against the Bruins throughout his career, both as a Blue Jacket and a Jet, with just one goal and zero assists in 11 career showdowns with the Bruins. It’ll be interesting to see if those struggles remain following Dubois’ move to Hollywood.

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