Need to Know: Bruins at Hurricanes

RALEIGH –– The Boston Bruins will open their two-game road trip on Tuesday with an 8 p.m. ET matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The B’s (9-2-1) and the defending Stanley Cup Champions (9-2-2) currently have the two best records in the NHL.

“Those are great challenges,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “It is the team you want to beat – that’s how I see it. They did a great job last season, and they’re already in championship form right now, so it’s going to be great for us going into a game like that. Do our best to play the best to beat the best team, so that’s how I feel.”

The Bruins most recently topped the San Jose Sharks 6-4 on Saturday at TD Garden; they have won seven of their last eight games, and collected points in all eight. Boston has also been strong on the road to start the year.

“I think we kind of play our game for 60 minutes; I think that’s something I noticed, especially on the road,” Sturm said. “Even with tough starts, I think our goalies were excellent. They helped us going through that phase, and after that, we’ve been pretty solid.”

JJ Peterka had two assists against San Jose and has two goals in the last four games. The 24-year-old forward is back on the first line with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. He’s averaging 16:56 of ice time per night, and will look to keep up the consistency.

“It really helps, off-ice first of all. As a new player, as a new guy in town, it usually takes some time, but what I heard from these guys right away when he came back from the summer – guys took him under their wing and kind of made sure he was feeling very comfortable. Also, Charlie met him in Munich, so that was nice,” Sturm said of Peterka. “So it’s good. He’s a good kid; he fits right in with our group off the ice. On the ice, I think the one thing we noticed where we’re definitely much stronger this year is our speed. And he’s a huge part of that.”

Wait, There’s More

• Jeremy Swayman will start in net for Boston. The goaltender last played on Saturday and made 23 saves in the win over the Sharks. Swayman has a 2.20 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage through nine games this year.

• Elias Lindholm enters Tuesday’s matchup with six points (three goals, three assists) in his last five games. The 31-year-old center was a first-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2013 and spent five seasons (2013-2018) with the team. Lindholm is currently on the third line with James Hagens and Casey Mittelstadt; he has 10 total points through 12 games this season.

• Morgan Geekie, who was a third-round pick of Carolina in 2017, has three points in his last five games. The 28-year-old forward is on the second line with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov. Both youngsters had goals on Saturday at TD Garden; Geekie assisted on Khusnutdinov’s third goal of the year.

Opposing View

• The Hurricanes are coming off a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at Enterprise Center. Sean Walker, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Carolina. Netminder Pyotr Kochetkov posted a 24-save shutout. The Hurricanes have won three of their last five games.

• Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) through 13 games. The 29-year-old forward has four points (one goal, three assists) in his last two games. Aho is projected to be on the first line with William Carrier and Andrei Svechnikov. Aho is also on the first power-play unit; three of his goals have come on the man advantage.

• Shayne Gostisbehere leads all Hurricanes defensemen with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 13 games. The 33-year-old defenseman is expected to be on the third pair with Juuso Valimaki. Gostisbehere is averaging 17:49 of ice time per night.