Need to Know: Bruins vs. Pittsburgh

BOSTON –– The Boston Bruins are right back at it.

The B’s will host the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 5 p.m. matchup at TD Garden on Sunday, following their blowout 10-2 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday.

The team enjoyed the historic showing, but is refocusing for an important contest against Pittsburgh, which is one point ahead of the Bruins in the standings.

Morgan Geekie left Saturday’s game after the first period to tend to a family matter and will be out again on Sunday. “Everything is fine, but we respect his privacy,” said Sturm. Mikey Eyssimont will sub in for Geekie.

Elias Lindholm also left the game early with a lower-body injury as a precautionary measure, but “looks good” and should be able to play against the Penguins, per Sturm. “We’ll just have to wait for Elias to confirm after warmups,” he added.

Wait, There’s More

• Marat Khusnutdinov posted five points (four goals, one assist) – including his first career hat trick – on Saturday against the Rangers. The 23-year-old forward has been skating on the first line with David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm. Pastrnak assisted on three of Khusnutdinov’s four goals.
• Joonas Korpisalo will start in net for Boston. The goaltender last played on Thursday against the Calgary Flames and made 28 saves in the 4-1 win. Korpisalo has a 3.42 goals against average and a .888 save percentage through 16 games.
• Henri Jokiharju posted two assists and a +5 rating on Saturday at TD Garden. The 26-year-old defenseman has been back in the lineup for three games after missing 16 games due to injury. He has been skating on the second pair with Nikita Zadorov and averaging 17:27 of ice time per night.

Opposing View

• The Penguins are also playing in the second game of a back-to-back; they fell 2-1 to the Calgary Flames on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Egor Chinakhov scored the lone Pittsburgh goal, and netminder Arturs Silovs made 23 saves in the loss. The Penguins have won six of their last seven games ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Bruins.
• Former Bruins Justin Brazeau has 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) through 29 games with the Penguins this season. The 27-year-old forward was traded from Boston to Minnesota in March and signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh in July. Brazeau has been skating on the third line with Kevin Hayes and Anthony Mantha.
• Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 49 points (24 goals, 25 assists) through 43 games. The 38-year-old forward and captain centers the first line between Tommy Novak and Rickard Rakell, and is also on the first power-play unit. Crosby has nine goals on the man advantage this season.