Thursday’s game marks the return of former Bruins coach Jim Montgomery to TD Garden for the first time since he was fired by Boston last season.
“Professionally, it’s a bag of mixed emotions. Some great times and some very, very disappointing times,” Montgomery said of his tenure in Boston, highlighted by a record-setting 2022-23 regular season.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at TD Garden and on NESN. Here’s a preview.
Get Starting Point
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Where: TD Garden, Boston
TV, radio: NESN, WBZ-FM 98.5
Line: St. Louis -140. O/U: 5.5.
BLUES
Season record: 9-11-7. vs. spread: 13-14. Over/under: 12-15
Last 10 games: 3-3-4. vs. spread: 7-3. Over/under: 2-8
BRUINS
Season record: 15-13-0. vs. spread: 20-8. Over/under: 15-13
Last 10 games: 4-6-0. vs. spread: 6-4. Over/under: 4-6
TEAM STATISTICS
Goals scored: St. Louis 69, Boston 85
Goals allowed: St. Louis 93, Boston 91
Power play: St. Louis 19.2%, Boston 24.7%
Penalty minutes: St. Louis 183, Boston 367
Penalty kill: St. Louis 76.6%, Boston 82.6%
Faceoffs won: St. Louis 51.0%, Boston 51.8%
Stat of the day: The Bruins only have one win in regulation in their last eight games.
Notes: With Pastrnak on the shelf with an undisclosed injury that has kept him out the past three games, the Bruins lost defenseman Michael Callahan (lower-body injury) just as forward Viktor Arvidsson returned from a seven-game absence on Tuesday. … “For some reason, we can’t stay healthy. We had five D all night, four D for [part of the third period],” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said after a road loss to Detroit Tuesday. “Guys battled hard, but we just have to play smarter 5-on-5 to get some points out of here.” … With Callahan likely unavailable on Wednesday, Sturm expects Frederic Brunet or Victor Soderstrom to be the extra defenseman called up from AHL Providence. … St. Louis is 3-3-4 in its past 10 games, but a 4-1 home loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday was its first regulation setback in a four-game span (2-1-1). … Montgomery was in the headlines for a verbal exchange with Jordan Binnington after pulling the goaltender in the first period, but cooler heads prevailed quickly in the aftermath. “He’s a competitor, he raises his games in big moments all the time. I love him,” Montgomery said. “He walked off the ice, he said, ’I love you.’ I said, ’I love you, too.’ We’re both competitors by nature, and at the end of the period, he waited for me, we apologized, we moved on.”
Amin Touri can be reached at [email protected].
