With their win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks moved to 7-1-0 on the road, which is the best road-winning percentage in the NHL. They will get an added boost for this exciting matchup as Brock Boeser is expected to return to the lineup.

The Bruins are 2-0 under new head coach Joe Sacco and are suddenly tied for the final Wildcard spot out East with the Buffalo Sabres (who have a game in hand). They have played to a record of 6-4-2 on home ice this season and hold a record of 5-3-2 over the last 10.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

The Canucks seemed to rally around Quinn Hughes’ debatable first period ejection from Saturday’s matchup and earned a quality 4-3 victory over a desperate Senators side. The top line of Elias Pettersson, Kiefer Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk combined for seven points, and Kevin Lankinen was sharp despite his modest final stat line.

While their overall game flow numbers say that the Senators generated more scoring chances and shots on goal, the Canucks did a good job limiting mistakes in the neutral zone and controlling the transition game. That was the same recipe we saw last season, which helped Rick Tocchet’s side outscore expectations and insulate their goaltenders effectively.

The Canucks still have a lot of work to do to be viewed as a top side once again as they get into a tougher scheduling patch. Over the last 10 games, they hold a 50.25% expected goal share and a record of 6-4-0 in that span despite playing only three matchups versus playoff teams.

However, Boeser is a true needle mover, and his addition to the lineup helps in all facets of the game. He’s arguably their purest goal scorer and is also reliable in his own end. It appears that head coach Rick Tocchet will insert Boeser onto the second line and leave the red-hot top line of Pettersson, Sherwood and DeBrusk together.

The Canucks have not confirmed a starting goaltender for this matchup. However, off the ice at practice this afternoon, so all inclinations point to him getting the nod tonight. Lankinen has played to a -3.1 goals save Lankinen was the first goaltenderabove expected (GSAx) and .901 save percentage (S%) this season, but a couple of outlier performances have tanked those marks, and I think most Canucks fans would agree he has been, at worst, a league-average starter.

The Bruins made an interesting move last week in firing Jim Montgomery, who held an incredible record of 120-41-23 in his time with the club. While a shakeup may not prove to be the worst thing, there’s a pretty strong case to be made that the roster GM Don Sweeney has assembled is simply somewhat flawed.

Perhaps a new voice will continue to draw a response from a Bruins side that has been so dominant in recent years, but the roster simply isn’t what it was with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci centring the top two lines. Elias Lindholm has struggled to perform as a top-six centre, and Pavel Zacha isn’t an overly enticing option either.

David Pastrnak is the club’s only truly dynamic offensive piece, and he’s currently lining up with Zacha and Morgan Geekie.

The Bruins rank 14th in xGF/60 this season and 32nd in actual goals for. They likely are due for some positive regression from an offensive perspective, but the overall makeup of the roster should prevent them from finding too much offensive success under any coach.

They rank ninth in expected goals against per 60, and do still figure to be a better-than-average side from a defensive perspective. That point should prove especially true if Jeremy Swayman can find his game moving forward, as he has struggled to a -6.5 GSAx rating thus far this season, which is arguably the greatest reason why the Bruins results have fallen off so greatly compared to previous seasons.

Swayman may have entered the year a little out of form in part due to what had become a very messy contract negotiation, and he obviously has the potential to play better moving forward. He allowed just one goal versus Detroit in his last appearance on Saturday.

While the Bruins are 2-0 under new head coach Joe Sacco, both of those games came against opponents near the bottom of the league who lack significant offensive upside. The Bruins did do an excellent job suppressing high-quality scoring chances in those matchups, but it still seems fair to say a larger sample of improved play is needed before we start rating the Bruins as a powerhouse once again, and their roster is clearly lacking offensive depth.

The Canucks played one of their best games of the year in Ottawa and responded well to the challenge of playing nearly an entire game without Hughes. Boeser’s return bolsters their offensive upside, and they have been one of the league’s better road teams over the last two years. They would be my lean in terms of a side in this matchup, and I’m not surprised to see their price has come down in this game.

This presents as an interesting spot to target DeBrusk in the prop market as he makes his return to Boston. It’s fair to expect DeBrusk might have a little extra jump in this matchup, and he has looked far better recently on the Canucks makeshift top line.

He’s gone over 2.5 shots on goal in two of the last three matchups with 15-shot attempts. If he does continue posting similar rates on the top line, +145 will prove to be a tremendous price, and it’s an added bonus that he might have some added urgency in this matchup.