Game Day Thread: Ducks @ Bruins

Tonight, the Anaheim Ducks are visiting the home of the Bruins.
Also, they will play a hockey game.

This will be the first meeting between the Bs and the Ducks since the Bruins acquired forward Chris Wagner.
Did you know that Wagner is originally from Walpole, MA?
Because he is.
From Walpole.
Massachusetts.
The Ducks are the team that originally drafted him, and he entered the NHL via that organization.
Did we mention he’s from Walpole?
Because you might not have heard that.

Anyway, the Bruins have had a few days off since meeting the Habs in Montreal, where they delivered a nice scoreboard beat-down to their primary rival, shutting them out and popping ahead of them in the standings. This provided some time for the many bruised, concussed, lacerated, or otherwise injured Bruin players to get a little closer to health.

Patrice Bergeron has rejoined practice, but is reportedly not ready to play yet. While Zdeno Chara was at practice, and not wearing a non-contact jersey, that’s just because there was no such jersey in his size. Urho Vaakanainen, Kevan Miller and Jake DeBrusk also practiced on Wednesday. Steven Kampfer and Sean Kuraly were both wearing full face shields during the last game, but otherwise seemed good to go. Recently acquired forward Gemel Smith was sent down to the AHL affiliate Providence Bruins, and has already played in a P-Bruins game.

WHAT DOES THIS GIVE US FOR LINES?

Bruce Cassidy says it will be the same lineup tonight as Montreal. Jaroslav Halak starts in goal. #NHLBruins

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 20, 2018

Oh.
Well, that’s easy.

Bruins Forward Lines
Brad Marchand	David Krejci	David Pastrnak
Joakim Nordstrom	Colby Cave, man	David Backes
Ryan Donato	#23 Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson	Danton Heinen
Sean Kuraly	Noel Acciari	Chris Wagner
Bruins Defensive pairs
Torey Krug	Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk	Charlie McAvoy
John Moore	Steven Kampfer
Bruins Goaltending
#41 Jaroslav Halak	(#40 Tuukka Rask)

This evening’s opponent are the Ducks. Unfortunately, the Ducks don’t particularly suck. They’re running at 19-12-5 for a total of 43 standings points in 36 games. That puts them roughly on par with the Bruins, though ahead due to some points from two extra games. They do have a negative goal differential, but they’ve got an unusually successful record vs the Bruins, having won something like the last 9 games vs Boston, usually involving Ryan Kesler doing something unsportsmanlike that remarkably does not get penalized. They’re a little beat up themselves. High-profile rat Corey Perry is still dealing with a blown out knee, defenseman Cam Fowler had his face severely rearranged by a puck, Patrick Eaves has a broken rib, and goaltender Ryan Miller recently wrecked his knee, opening up a slot for the likes of Chad Johnson. Forward Richard Rakell is also unlikely to appear, as he is suffering an ankle sprain.
(h/t Daily Faceoff):

Ducks Forwards
Pontus Aberg — Ryan Getzlaf — Ondrej Kase
Andrew Cogliano — Ryan Kesler — Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie — Adam Henrique — Daniel Sprong
Kiefer Sherwood — Carter Rowney — Brian Gibbons

Ducks Defense
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Montour
Jacob Larsson — Josh Manson
Josh Mahura — Jake Dotchin

Ducks Goaltending
John Gibson
Hi I’m Chad Johnson

So get out your favorite beverage and let’s get ready to hockey!