The Boston Bruins might be without Charlie McAvoy tonight, while Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be back in the lineup.
Rielly is back in the lineup after suffering an shoulder injury against the Philadelphia Flyers, per a report from Jonas Siegel of The Athletic Toronto. He had a collision with Jakub Voracek of the Flyers, which knocked him out of the lineup for the past few weeks. Rielly will be paired with Ron Hainsey on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top defensive pairing.
Mike Babcock says Dermott and Carrick will be third pair vs. Bruins. Rielly and Hainsey both back. Polak remains out.
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) February 3, 2018
Charlie McAvoy
A few weeks back, McAvoy underwent a heart procedure. After two weeks of sitting out, McAvoy returned to practice on Thursday per a report from a Boston radio station, WEEI. WEEI’s report continued to mention that the Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy will evaluate McAvoy during the Bruins morning skate. Once the morning skate is complete, Cassidy will choose if he’ll put McAvoy back in the lineup.
McAvoy, a native of Long Beach, New York was selected 14th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by Boston. He played for the US Hockey National Team Development Program and Boston University.
In the playoffs last season, McAvoy made his NHL debut with the Bruins. Unfortunately for McAvoy, his exposure to the playoffs was short lived. The Bruins weren’t able to get past the Ottawa Senators in the opening round. Even though the Bruins appeared sluggish, McAvoy did manage to grab three assists in six games.
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This season, McAvoy has 5 goals and 20 assists in 45 games. He also has an amazing corsi-for percentage of 54.9%. If McAvoy keeps up his play, he could be raising the Calder Memorial Trophy at the NHL Awards ceremony.
Toronto Maple Leafs
On the other side of the ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been playing stellar hockey as of late. They are coming off back-to-back shutouts over the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers.
The Toronto Maple Leafs defense finally appears to be clicking. The defensive pairing of Justin Holl and Travis Dermott has been producing quite well. Holl has two goals in his first two games in the NHL and Dermott has three points in his last two games.
In the offensive zone, the Toronto Maple Leafs are excelling especially the first line. Auston Matthews and William Nylander have a combined 4 goals and 8 assists in the last five games. Nazem Kadri has also come alive after his point slump. Kadri has grabbed at least a point in his last four games and will look to grab some more tonight in Beantown.
Prediction
The Toronto Maple Leafs defense will need to bring their A game against the Bruins top line of David Pastrnak, Danton Heinen and Patrice Bergeron.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs defense continues to blossom and quiet the top line, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be able to grab another win.
My prediction is that the Toronto Maple Leafs will defeat the Bruins 4 to 2.
stats from NHL.com & hockey-reference.com