Up next, Boston will play its first home game in nearly two weeks as it hosts Vancouver at TD Garden on Tuesday. The Canucks pose a new challenge for the Bruins, as they're one of two teams in the league Boston has yet to play this season.
"They're playing really well," said Head Coach Bruce Cassidy. "Haven't seen them yet this year, so they've probably taken another step from where they were last year, close to a playoff team. They added some character guys like [J.T.] Miller, who's really helped their team. The defensemen as well. They've done some good things to their lineup; those young guys are a year older, so they're going to be better. Quinn Hughes has come in and done a real good job for their power play.
"I think they're probably a little bit underrated right now because you don't see them that often, but we'll find out tomorrow. They've always played us well; one team that, for whatever reason, they seem to have our number."
The Pacific Division-leading Canucks are coming to TD Garden fresh off their first loss in five games to Carolina on Sunday. The motivation for them to rebound from that loss, in addition to Vancouver's young core group, was enough cause for defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to echo Cassidy's statements.
"They've got a young team, a lot of skill," Grzelcyk said. "Those guys did pretty well in the All-Star weekend, so, pretty fun team to watch. They always seem to play very well against us too, so we've got to be ready to come out. They had a tough one yesterday against Carolina, so like I said - they're in a tough race in the West. We want to play well going into the playoffs as well, so we should be ready for a tough one."
