The Bruins get some help before puck drop tonight, with Bowen Byram out of the Blackhawks lineup in Boston.
Chicago is in town for a Saturday matinee, and Boston is looking to snap a two-game skid. Losing a top defenseman on the road doesn't hurt the home team.
Byram is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, according to the latest injury report. Beyond that, nothing more is known about the issue.
Byram is a 25-year-old defenseman who went fourth overall in the 2019 draft. He has played 6 games this season with no goals and 1 assist.
He also carries a -7 rating, which tells you how rough the start has been for Chicago's back end. The Blackhawks have allowed 48 goals in 13 games.
Boston needed a soft landing after Thursday night. The Bruins lost 4-1 at St. Louis, their second straight defeat, and the offense never really got going.
That makes this a very good spot to reset. The Blackhawks are 31st in the NHL at 4-9-0, and they haven't won on the road yet this season.
Blackhawks road woes give Boston a clear opening
Chicago is 0-5-0 away from home. That's five tries, five losses, and now the Blackhawks arrive without one of their regular blueliners.
Jeff Blashill's group also lost its last game, a 4-1 decision at Detroit on Thursday. Chicago has scored 27 goals this season against a goal differential of -21.
The Bruins, meanwhile, sit first in the Atlantic Division at 9-4-1. Marco Sturm's team is 5-1-0 at home, and TD Garden has been the place to fix things.
Boston has scored 50 goals and allowed 32, a +18 differential that ranks among the best in the league. Two bad nights haven't changed what this team has been.
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times beat... noted that Byram is out today and that the Blackhawks will only sort out their final lineup in warmups.
Whoever Blashill slots in on the back end, the Bruins should be able to lean on their home ice and a defense that has to deal with a team with nine regulation losses. The question is whether Boston takes full advantage before a third straight loss becomes a real problem.
