If you were planning to stay up late to watch the Bruins take on the formidable Vegas Golden Knights, the new blood that the team brought up from Providence for the trip will not be in the lineup.
Interim coach Joe Sacco told reporters in Vegas that forward Fabian Lysell and defenseman Michael Callahan will play on this five-game road trip, just not on Thursday night against the Knights.
“Both guys will get an opportunity to draw in here at some point on the trip, but for tonight, we’ll just give them another day or two to get acclimated and then we’ll see after that,” Sacco told reporters in Vegas.
The last time these two teams met, it was on February 8, the last game before the two-week break for the Four Nations when the B’s still had reasonable hope that they could make the post-season. It turned into one of a handful of games this season that the B’s could have and probably should have won. The B’s squandered a two-goal lead and then allowed a game-winner with 1:10 remaining in the game on a Tomas Hertl power-play goal, not long after Vegas had a potential go-ahead goal wiped out for goalie interference.
The was the last game game Charlie McAvoy has played for the Bruins this season. He suffered a shoulder injury in the Four Nations Faceoff and has not been able to play since then. He remains in Boston rehabbing on his own. The loss of McAvoy, in part, precipitated the first major sell-off that GM Don Sweeney has had to undertake in his decade-long tenure, as captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau were dealt for mostly futures.
While the B’s are looking to stop their losing streak at three games, the Pacific Division-leading Knights have not been playing well, either, though their spot in the post-season is not in question. They’ve lost four of their last five, including dropping a pair of games last weekend on the road. But T-Mobile Arena is a friendly place, where the Knight’s have a 24-7-3 record.
The road, meanwhile, has not been hospitable to the B’s this season. They are 11-18-3 away from Causeway Street and, if that trend continues, this road trip could finally spell the end to their fleeting playoff hopes. They start the night four points out of the final playoff spot and the second wild card hoolder, the Montreal Canadiens, has two games in hand on them.
Jeremy Swayman will be looking to snap his personal two-game losing streak. Puck drop is a little after 10 pm.