Does the loser of this game kind of win?
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 10 PM
Where: Honda Center – Anaheim, CA
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Know your enemy
- 30-32-8, 68PTS, 6th in the Pacific Division
- Troy Terry: 19G-32A-51PTS; Mason MacTavish: 18G-25A-43PTS; Frank Vatrano: 20G-21A-41PTS
- Lukas Dostal: 20-19-6, 2.99 GAA, .907 save percentage
Game notes
- Mercifully, the Bruins’ West Coast Road Trip of Doom is coming to a close — but not before one last spin in California. The Bruins will face a Ducks team that is in a similar situation in the standings, in that they’re on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, and looking more towards next season than anything else.
- The Ducks are 13 points out of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, so their season is over. However, there’s plenty to play for (lose for?) in this game, as the Bruins and Ducks are separated by just one point in the league standings. While it’s hard to tell pro athletes to lose a game, this is one of those that may be better as a loss once the draft rolls around.
- Anaheim won the first game on the season between these two teams, a 3-2 OT win at TD Garden back in late February. That Bruins loss was their first game after the Four Nations Face-Off and was right around when you could see the writing on the wall for this team.
- The Bruins have lost six games in a row, while the Ducks are losers of three of their last four.
- Former Bruin and Massachusetts native Frank Vatrano has reached the 20-goal mark for the Ducks this year, making it three seasons in a row that he has scored 20+. He has taken a step back after his 37-goal campaign last season, but has been reliably productive for the Ducks since landing in Anaheim.
- Yes, that IS Sergei Samsonov in the picture accompanying this post! With the Bruins in line to potentially land a top-10 pick in this summer’s draft, I went back and counted: it appears Samsonov was the Bruins’ sixth-most recent top 10 pick, coming in at 8th overall way back in 1997.
- The Bruins other top-10 picks since then: Lars Jonsson (7th overall, 2000); Phil Kessel (5th, 2006); Zach Hamill (8th, 2007); Tyler Seguin (2nd, 2010); and Dougie Hamilton (9th, 2011).
- After tonight, the Bruins will have another Fail Bowl game with draft implications on Saturday night in Detroit.
See ya tonight!