Causeway gameday! Boston Bruins shouldn’t gamble in Vegas

After a much needed win, the Boston Bruins are hoping momentum can carry them through a short turnaround on the road against the surprising Vegas Golden Knights. Let’s hope they don’t feel the urge to roll the dice and get down to work.

The Boston Bruins are looking for a fresh start after evening their record to 2-2. However, the Bs may not be feeling so fresh as they gear up for their second game in the desert in less than 24 hours. They will be faced with a test against the island of misfit toys who are surprisingly 3-1 to start the season.

Some seemingly good news for the Bruins is that Jonathan Marchessault and Marc Andre Fleury have been placed on IR, which opens the door for Malcom Subban to start who was fighting Anton Khudobin to backup Tuukka Rask just two weeks ago. Subban, the Bruins’ 1st round pick in 2012 (24th overall) was never able to establish himself in Boston spending four seasons in Providence and submitting two poor performances when starting for the big Bs. Let’s hope the Bruins can capitalize on this familiarity and run Subban out of the net as he was in his first two starts for them.

Schedule

Gametime is 7:05pm EST – 4:05pm PST at T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas. The game will be broadcast on NESN for television viewers, and on 98.5 The Sports Hub for the devoted radio listeners.

What to watch for

More from Causeway Crowd

• Harrison, Toporowski shine in Prospects Challenge
• Obscure former Boston Bruins: Steven Kampfer
• Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
• Bruins release full “Historic 100” list ahead of season
• McAvoy, Lucic named to “Historic 100” list over the weekend

With all that said about Subban, he and Vegas’ expansion draft pick from the Bruins, Colin Miller, will undoubtedly be playing with a chip on their shoulder to show they are worth more than the value Bs management tagged them at this summer.

Vegas is riding high and trying to deliver for their devastated city, so they will be ready to go to battle at home. The Bruins of old would welcome this fight, but it is hard to tell what group will show up today given their start to the season.

No word that Patrice Bergeron will be in the lineup and David Backes is still sidelined, so the Bs lines shouldn’t change again after it took them a period to generate chemistry last night.

Keys for the Bs

For the Bruins to be successful in Vegas, they need to rely on their leadership to come through again. Chara will be tested to lead the way in back to back games, which will prove if he is worth a contract extension at 40 years old. Can he keep the pace after a big effort last night?

The defense will be tasked with stopping James Neal who is on a tear to start the season. If the Bs are going to beat the Knights, they need to shutdown Neal. Chara is the most experienced shutdown guy on the backend (by far), so the defense will look to him when it counts.

The kids also need to carry some of the weight. Jake Debrusk, Anders Bjork, and Charlie McAvory have all gotten a taste of scoring and should be hungry for more. With the freshest legs on the team, they should help push the pace for the Bruins.

Next: Bruins keep the Coyotes winless

I don’t expect for the Bruins to walk away with big winnings in Vegas, but if they can build off their momentum from last night and play smart, they may leave the desert unscathed.