The Boston Bruins head to Carolina with points in eight straight games, and David Pastrnak is the reason their 9-2-1 start suddenly looks very real.

Saturday night's 6-4 win over San Jose made it two straight games with six goals on home ice.

Over that eight-game run, Boston went 7-0-1. The only blemish was a 3-2 overtime loss in Dallas on October 20.

And Pastrnak has been driving almost all of it. He has five goals and nine points in his last five games.

Season-wide, the 30-year-old sits at 17 points through 12 games. Three of his seven goals have come on the power play.

That's what an $11,250,000 cap hit is supposed to buy. Right now, Boston's top winger is paying it back with interest.

Marco Sturm's group leads the Atlantic with 19 points. The only club ahead of it overall is the one waiting in Carolina on Tuesday night.

Carolina's shaky home record gives Boston an opening

The Hurricanes sit at 9-2-2 under Rod Brind'Amour. They've gone 8-1-1 over their last 10.

But look closer. Carolina is just 2-1-1 at home, a strange split for a team that's been nearly untouchable on the road.

Boston, meanwhile, is 4-1-1 away from home. This is the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

Here's my problem with the hype. Utah was the only opponent in Boston's eight-game run sitting inside the league's top eight.

Philadelphia, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Nashville and San Jose twice. That's acing every pop quiz before anyone hands out the final exam.

Tuesday is the final exam. Boston owns the league's best goal differential at +22, and Carolina sits right behind at +18.

Sebastian Aho already has 18 points for the Hurricanes. Logan Stankoven has eight goals, one more than anyone on the Bruins roster.

So who gets the crease? Jeremy Swayman carries a .920 save percentage with six wins.

Michael DiPietro has been even sharper at .941 in three appearances. That's a real decision for Sturm heading into the biggest game of the young season.

Depth has carried weight too. Fraser Minten, 22, has two game-winning goals, while 19-year-old James Hagens has nine points.

On the blue line, Charlie McAvoy has five assists in his last five games. William Borgen sits at a +15 rating.

There's no breather after this one either. The road trip rolls into St. Louis on Thursday.

A regulation win Tuesday pushes Boston past Carolina for the most points in the NHL. A loss, and the soft-schedule questions get a lot louder.