Boston Bruins vs New Jersey Devils: Odds, starting goalies, injuries

The Boston Bruins face-off against the New Jersey Devils for the second of three meetings this season, tonight at 7pm ET at the Prudential Center.

Both teams are coming off overtime plays on the weekend, though New Jersey was the victorious one of the two, as they beat the Canadiens in overtime on Saturday night while the Bruins gave up a late third period goal and then lost in a shootout to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Another characteristic that separates these two teams are their positions in the standings. Boston will enter the night as the top spot holder in the Atlantic division while New Jersey continues to battle its way out of the bottom of the Metropolitan.

Betting Odds

The Action Network currently has the Boston Bruins as the favorite, setting the odds at -141 (Bet $141 to win $100). A money line bet on the Devils meanwhile will pay at +125 (Bet $100 to win $125). The over/under for the game opened and is currently sitting at 6, while the puck line is paying +170 for the Bruins to cover the spread.  The Bruins are currently 1-4 in the last 5 games against the over. Meanwhile, the Devils are allowing 2.6 goals per game in the last five games but have also allowed 21 goals against over their last five home games.

The Bruins have not covered the spread when they were favorited in five straight games. Will we see this trend change tonight?

Starting Goalies

The starting goalies for tonight’s game will be Tuukka Rask and MacKenzie Blackwood. Tuukka enters the night with an 8-2-2 record which includes a 2.82 GAA and .910 SV% while on the road. Rask has either been brilliant, or a somewhat unreliable in the net this season, we’ll look forward to seeing who he is this evening.

Blackwood owns a 7-4-3 record on the year and has been slightly better at home than he has on the road. In the first match-up of the year between the Bruins and Devils, Boston faced Cory Schneider between the pipes, so Blackwood will provide some different scenery for the black and gold. Like Rask, Blackwood has also been streaky this season, and with a less than desirable performance from both goalies, this game has the potential to smash tonight’s over/under of 6.

Injury Notes: DeBrusk set to return

Tuesday will also mark the return of Jake DeBrusk to the Bruins lineup after missing each of the last five games with what was described as a lower body injury. The DeBrusk return to the lineup should reinstate that secondary scoring that the Bruins have been missing as of late. Although many teams in today’s NHL have found success in relying on their top line for scoring (see Edmonton and Colorado) the Bruins and their veteran top line sure could use the relief of pressure from the second and third units.

The last time these two teams met was for the Bruins home opener in which the Bruins locked down the Devils offense and shut them out winning 3-0. Dating back to last season, the Bruins won two of three meetings of the year, including the final two. In each of those two games, Tuukka Rask was the starter and allowed just one goal. Rask has the Devils number as of late.

The Boston Bruins are also 1-4 when losing the previous game this season. That doesn’t speak too highly to their ability to bounce back after a loss. On the other hand, after the Bruins first loss of the season against the Avalanche, they played against this same New Jersey squad, take that as how you want it.

Both teams will be coming off two days of rest, so expect energy levels to be high, and scoring chances to be plentiful!