Game 13: Boston Bruins vs St. Louis Blues Lines, Preview

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Boston Bruins Game Day Preview:

Boston Bruins (10-2-0, 20 pts) vs St. Louis Blues (3-6-0, 6pts)

TIME: 7 P.M. ET,

TV: NESN, BSMW, NHL Network

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

After having their seven-game point streak snapped in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, but going 3-1-0 on their recent four-game road trip, the Boston Bruins return to the comfy confines of TD Garden Monday night. The Bruins will welcome in old friend Torey Krug and the last place St. Louis Blues in the first of a quick two-game home stand that concludes Thursday night against the Calgary Flames.

If they want to avoid what would be their first losing streak of the 2022-23 season, the Boston Bruins will need to temporarily mute the outside noise from the Mitchell Miller fiasco. Speaking to the media on Monday morning, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery didn’t seem too concerned that his team could be overwhelmed or consumed by the Miller situation.

“I think it will be pretty easy to be honest, because of the culture that we have here,” Montgomery replied on how easy he thought his team could block everything out and focus on the game?

“We listen to each other and I think you saw a lot of people listening to each other and sharing their beliefs, and in the end, there’s a lot of respect within the Boston Bruins organization from the top of the food chain all the way to the bottom, and that’s the way we conduct ourselves and that’s why I don’t see it being an issue.”

They better hope it’s not an issue against a Blues squad hungry to turn their season around and climb out of the Western Conference and NHL basements. Heading into game action Monday night, the Blues were the worst team in the Western Conference and tied in points with the worst team in the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“You don’t want to lose two in a row,” Brad Marchand told the media following his team’s game-day skate on Monday. “That’s something we’ve always tried to preach in here is not compounding losses. But they’re a great team. They’ve lost a few and they know how to bounce back. They have a lot of great characters in that room. It’s gonna be like last game – everyone is gonna be ready for us with our record and the team that we have, especially when you come up against a team that hasn’t had the start that they expected.

You’re gonna get their best and that’s what we expect. We have to make sure we bring our A-game tonight and we can’t play sloppy like we did last game and just get back to playing the way we can. It should be a good game.”

Boston Bruins Notes

– Linus Ullmark will be making his third straight start for the Bruins. Ullmark tied Tim Thomas for the best start by a goalie in Bruins team history but then suffered his first loss of the season Saturday in Toronto with a 26-save performance. Ullmark is 8-1-0 with a 2.16 GAA and .929 save percentage.

-The Boston Bruins own the league’s sixth highest-scoring offense (4.17 goals per game) and they’re fifth overall in GAA at 2.50 goals allowed per game.

-Boston Bruins winger Craig Smith will return to the lineup tonight after missing the last three games with an upper-body injury. A.J. Greer will be a healthy scratch and forward Jakub Lauko was sent down to Providence (AHL), on Monday afternoon.

-Defenseman Derek Forbort had surgery on his middle finger and is out four to six weeks, and goalie Jeremy Swayman is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

St. Louis Blues

-Welcome back Torey Krug, one of the best and classiest players I ever dealt with in my 21 years of covering the Bruins. Here’s Krug talking with friend of BHN, Darren Pang this morning:

Torey Krug is back in Boston as the Blues face off against the Bruins tonight at TD Garden. He sat down with Darren Pang to catch up and give a scouting report on his former team in today's @ford Gameday Report. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/8fVpWuHmnL

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 7, 2022

-Also, another welcome back to former Bruins forward Noel Acciari, who signed with the Blues this past offseason.

-Two-time Stanley Cup champion and St. Louis Blues winger Brandon Saad is expected to make his return to the lineup tonight. Nathan Walker will also be back in the lineup for the first time since Oct. 29.

Boston Bruins Lineup:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jake DeBrusk

Taylor Hall-David Krejci-David Pastrnak

Nick Foligno-Charlie Coyle-Pavel Zacha

Trent Frederic-Tomas Nosek-Craig Smith

Defense:

Hampus Lindholm-Connor Clifton

Matt Grzelcyk-Brandon Carlo

Jakub Zboril-Mike Reilly

Goalies:

Linus Ullmark

Keith Kinkaid

St. Louis Blues Lineup:

Forwards:

Brandon Saad – Ryan O’Reilly – Ivan Barbashev

Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Vladimir Tarasenko

Jake Neighbours – Brayden Schenn – Jordan Kyrou

Alexei Toropchenko – Noel Acciari – Nathan Walker

Defensemen:

Nick Leddy – Colton Parayko

Torey Krug – Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola – Robert Bortuzzo

Goalies

Jordan Binnington

Thomas Greiss