Chicago Blackhawks face biggest regular season week in recent memory

1. The Boston Bruins, Tuesday

The Boston Bruins are the toughest test for the Blackhawks this week. They are one of the true threats from the Eastern Conference to win the Stanley Cup. In this rematch of the 2019 NHL Winter Classic, the Blackhawks will truly have their work cut out for them.

In goal, the Hawks will likely shoot on Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. Rask is the Bruins mainstay and he is coming off of a win over the Los Angeles Kings. Rask has been the Bruins man in the net for a long time now. The Blackhawks know him well as he was the Bruins starter back in 2013 when they matched up in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Bruins are very much built like the Blackhawks were back when they were winning multiple cups in a short amount of time. They have championship aspirations like those old Hawks teams as well. They are led by their all-world center Patrice Bergeron. They have great scoring depth and they have two superstar wingers leading the way in Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

The keys to beating the Bruins may sound obvious but if they don’t execute these obvious things then they will lose. They need to stay out of the penalty box because they Bruins power play is lethal. It can and it will affect the outcome of every game they play. It is a unit made up of five elite players so do not take dumb penalties.

They also probably need their depth to show up. It isn’t to say that Toews or Kane won’t get the job done, but when you play in Boston that means they will have last change and can play the line matching game. Toews and Kane figure to see a lot of Bergeron and his line, which means 5-on-5 play will be very difficult to generate offense as that line doesn’t falter at full strength very often.

This is the toughest as far as an on-paper matchup, so the Blackhawks will need to execute their best game in order to defeat Boston at the TD Garden on Tuesday night.