Pluses, minuses for Bruins, Blues

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Boston Bruins are closing in on a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The St. Louis Blues are doing everything they can to get there.
Boston enters its game against the Blues at Scottrade Center game five points behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand. St. Louis is three points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
Each team needs points for a different reason, and it should be an interesting game when the Bruins (45-17-9) visit the Blues (39-28-5) on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV). Here's my breakdown of the game:

Bruins

Pluses: Goaltender Tuukka Rask has been great all season. He's 30-11-5 and hasn't had many down stretches since Thanksgiving. On Saturday, Rask became the first goalie in Bruins history to have five straight 30-win seasons when he shut out the Lightning. Any time you're setting a record like that with an Original Six franchise, it's big. Rask started slowly, going 4-8-2 with an .899 save percentage through November, but has turned the corner since and so have the Bruins. Backup Anton Khudobin (15-6-4) also has been good, meaning the Bruins can give Rask a night off and not have to worry -- something that was not always the case in recent years.

The Bruins have depth at almost every position; that's a big thing for a team that has lost more than 230 man-games to injury this season. Defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Zdeno Chara along with forwards Patrice Bergeron, David Backes, Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork are all out of the lineup, but other players have come in and stepped up. Brian Gionta, who was signed after playing for the United States at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, has six points (two goals, four assists) in 10 games. Ryan Donato, who signed his entry-level contract with the Bruins on Sunday, had a goal and two assists in his NHL debut, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
Boston has gotten balanced scoring, including from its defense. It hasn't just been the big line of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Bergeron. Torey Krug has an NHL career-high 52 points, and McAvoy had 32 before his injury. That's what general manager Don Sweeny and coach Bruce Cassidy wanted, and it's what they've gotten.
Minuses: The Bruins are playing well, but that doesn't mean they don't miss Bergeron. He's one of the best face-off men in the League and one of the best two-way players in the game. He's always in the running for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward.
Boston has lost three of its past five games and has a tough stretch to close the season. Wednesday begins a four-game road trip against the Blues, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets, all teams competing for playoff berths. It will be a good test for the Bruins as they prepare for the playoffs.
Although the Bruins are one of the better defensive teams in the League, they've allowed three or more goals in five of their past six games. That's something they'll want to clean up before the playoffs.

Blues

Pluses: We have to start with the reigning NHL First Star of the Week. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, the captain, has single-handedly carried them recently. He has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the past two games, overtime wins against the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, and scored the game-tying goal in the third period in each. Pietrangelo has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past five games. He's also among the NHL ice-time leaders at 25:36 per game.

Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn each had four points in a 5-4 overtime win against the Blackhawks. That's eight points from defensemen in one game. Their defense can and needs to be part of their attack. When that happens, the results are there.
Goaltender Jake Allen is playing better, which is huge. Allen is 4-1-0 in his past five starts, helping the Blues get critical points that they need. Carter Hutton was great for them too, but he's been out with an injury, and Allen has responded nicely.
Minuses: Inconsistency has been a big problem for the Blues. It feels like a long time ago that they began the season 21-8-2. They were near the top of the Western Conference but have struggled since and are now in a dogfight to make the playoffs. During a recent seven-game losing streak, they scored a total of 10 goals.
Although injuries hurt every team, the Blues have been hit particularly hard. They've lost forward Robby Fabbri and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester for the season, and will be without forward Scottie Upshall for the foreseeable future. Defenseman Joel Edmundson recently returned, and the Blues were also without Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen early on. Hutton, whose 2.02 goals-against average is the best of any goaltender with 20 or more appearances, is out. That's a lot for any team to overcome.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

1. How desperate will the Blues be?
   2. Who will win the special-teams battle? Boston's power play (22.3 percent) and penalty kill (82.0) are among of the best in the League. St. Louis ranks near the bottom on the power play (15.9 percent), and its penalty kill is middle-of-the-pack (80.5 percent).
   3. Will the best Blues players be their best players?