Bruins-Maple Leafs meet in potential playoff preview (Feb 03, 2018)

BOSTON -- If the season ended this weekend, the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, two of the NHL's Original Six, would meet in a first-round playoff series.

Both are hot as they prepare to meet Saturday night at TD Garden.

The Bruins, in second place in the Atlantic Division, had their 18-game points streak snapped by the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night but then made it 15-1-4 in their last 20 games with a win over the St. Louis Blues.

The third-place Maple Leafs, three points behind the Bruins but having played four more games, have won four straight. They have yielded three goals in the four games as Fredrik Andersen and Curtis McElhinney spun back-to-back shutouts in New York over the Islanders and Rangers, respectively.

"We think we're getting better, we think we have a chance to be quite a bit better," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after Thursday's 4-0 win over the Rangers. "We're just a work in progress.

"I think early we were exciting and we scored like crazy, but we didn't know how to play without (the puck). Then where was a while where we struggled and everyone thought we weren't very good -- I actually thought we were pretty good -- we didn't give up much, but we couldn't score. Now we're scoring again and guys are getting their feel back."

The Leafs have won seven straight against the Bruins and have a four-game TD Garden winning streak.

Andersen, 9-0 with a 1.88 goals-against average and .944 save percentage lifetime against the Bruins, sat out the second half of the Leafs' home-and-home sweep of the Bruins in November. He played the first game and McElhinney the second.

The Bruins, who will again be without the suspended Brad Marchand, might get rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy back after he missed four games from a heart procedure. But fellow defenseman Kevan Miller suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday night and is considered day to day.

"There's a chance and he hasn't been ruled out," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said before Friday's optional skate (McAvoy was there). "I'm not going to say he's in either, but he will skate today and monitor that. He is obviously getting closer."

Cassidy added, "Kevan is upper body and did not skate today. That will be something we will look at tomorrow obviously with Charlie ready and hopefully one of them will be ready to play for us.

"If not, Paul (Postma) has been sitting waiting for his chance so we will have a good (defense) core for tomorrow. I just can't tell you right now who it is going to be unfortunately."

Boston is five points behind first-place Tampa Bay, with two games in hand.

Tuukka Rask, who won Thursday night and is 17-0-2 in his last 19 starts, faces the team that drafted him (21st pick, 2005) Saturday night. And despite a lack of recent success (three straight losses) against the Leafs, he is 15-6-2 with a 2.11 goals-against average and .925 save percentage lifetime against Toronto.

Asked about his team's response to Tuesday night's streak-ender with Thursday's win, Rask said, "Well, you know what, I don't know if you can even call it a response. Obviously, we bounced back and got the win, but the last game, despite the first period, we played a hell of a game and then today I think we got better as the game went on.

"It was an all-around great game, but, yeah, great to get a win against a good hockey club for sure."

The Maple Leafs got a boost in the two games in New York from rookie defenseman Justin Holl, who scored a goal in each of his first two NHL games -- the first Toronto defenseman to accomplish that feat.

"It's a huge honor," Holl said. "The goals and assists, they kind of ebb and flow. You can't really read too much into it. I'm just trying to play as well as I can every night, and putting the team in the best position as I can to win."

He pulled it off in the first two games of the team fathers' trip -- his dad making it into New York for the second game after his son's recall from the minors.

The Leafs played Thursday without defensemen Morgan Rielly (upper body), Ron Hainsey (flu) and Roman Pollock (flu), leaving them with three rookie D-men in the win.