The Vancouver Canucks (34-11-5) travel to visit the Boston Bruins (31-10-9) at 4 p.m. at the TD Garden on Thursday night. This will be the first of two meetings between these two teams this season. Thursday's goaltending matchup will feature Thatcher Demko and Linus Ullmark.
Expected Canucks lines vs Boston Bruins, Feb. 8
Elias Pettersson - Elias Lindholm - Ilya Mikheyev
Pius Suter - J.T. Miller - Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua - Teddy Blueger - Conor Garland
Nils Hoglander - Nils Aman - Sam Lafferty
Canucks defense
Quinn Hughes - Filip Hronek
Ian Cole - Tyler Myers
Nikita Zadorov - Noah Juulsen
Canucks goaltending
Thatcher Demko will start against the Bruins, with Casey DeSmith backing up.
Canucks game preview:
- Quinn Hughes leads all NHL defensemen in points with 64.
- The Canucks are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games against Boston and 2-3-0 in their last five.
- Elias Pettersson has 22 points in his last 15 games for Vancouver.
- The Canucks lead the NHL in wins when scoring the game's first goal, with 26. They also have the highest goal differential in the NHL, with 62.
- Lifelong Canucks fan Parker Wotherspoon will replace Kevin Shattenkirk on defense.
- The Bruins lost rookie center Matt Poitras for the rest of the season due to a shoulder surgery.
Expected Bruins lines
Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Jake DeBrusk
James van Riemsdyk - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - Morgan Geekie - Trent Frederic
Jesper Boqvist - Jakub Lauko - Oskar Steen
Bruins defense
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Parker Wotherspoon
Bruins goaltending
Linus Ullmark is expected to start against the Canucks, with Jeremy Swayman backing him up.
How to watch the Vancouver Canucks:
Thursday's Vancouver Canucks game will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet East, and NESN, and can be heard via radio on Sportsnet 650.