Music: {allcanada} JETS (19-19-5) at BRUINS (27-12-2)

Friday, January 3, 2014

{allcanada} JETS (19-19-5) at BRUINS (27-12-2)

Doctor Sleep - Stephen King

Saturday, January 4, 2014

1:00 PM ET

JETS (19-19-5) at BRUINS (27-12-2)

TV: TSN-JETS, NESN

Last 10: Winnipeg 5-5-0; Boston 6-4-0

Season series: This is the first of two games between the Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins. Last season, with both teams in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins took two of three, but the Jets won the finale by a 3-1 score on March 19.

Big story: The Bruins always can count on Brad Marchand to get under the opposition's skin, but lately he seems to have found his offensive game as well. Marchand has six goals in his past 10 games after scoring in overtime Thursday to beat the Nashville Predators. His four game-winning goals tie David Krejci for the team lead.

Team Scope:

Jets: A three-game road trip didn't get off to the start Winnipeg needed with a 4-3 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, and it won't get any easier with a game in Boston on Saturday. After facing the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins, the Jets finish the trip against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on Sunday.

Goals by Dustin Byfuglien and Evander Kane helped the Jets wipe out a pair of one-goal deficits against the Senators, but Ottawa scored twice in the third period and a late goal by Olli Jokinen wasn't enough.

"I thought the third period we just didn't, collectively as a group, play the way we have these last couple of games," Kane said in the Winnipeg Free Press. "We didn't spend as much time as we wanted to in the other team's zone and that's what happens when you play that neutral-zone game. You get caught in your own zone. Mistakes and breakdowns, they hurt you."

Bruins: Tuukka Rask figures to be back between the pipes Saturday. It won't be Niklas Svedberg, who got a one-game look from Boston and impressed by making 33 saves in his NHL debut to put the Bruins in position to edge the Predators 3-2 on Marchand's goal 54 seconds into the extra period. Svedberg was returned to the American Hockey League following the game.

"Ever since you start playing, this is where you want to be," Svedberg said in the Boston Globe. "I'm real happy with this win. It's just one game, but it's real fun to get the win in the first game."

Johnny Boychuk and Jarome Iginla scored third-period goals for the Bruins, who snapped a two-game losing streak and started a stretch in which they play eight of nine games against Western Conference opponents.

Who's hot: Byfuglien was left off the U.S. roster for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but he's given the Jets what they need recently with two goals and five assists in his past seven games. … Iginla has five goals in as many games for the Bruins. Milan Lucic and Krejci assisted on his goal against the Predators, and all three members of the line now have six-game point streaks.

Injury report: Winnipeg defensemen Paul Postma (blood clot) and Grant Clitsome (illness) and forwards Jim Slater (sports hernia) and Matt Halischuk (forearm) are on injured reserve. … Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (knee) and forwards Chris Kelly (ankle) and Loui Eriksson (concussion) are on injured reserve.

Team Stats