Pittsburgh Penguins at Boston Bruins (-120, 5.5)
Bruins lead best-of-seven series 3-0.
The Boston Bruins find themselves one win away from a sweep of the top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins and a berth in the Stanley Cup final for the second time in three years. The fourth-seeded Bruins will look to make quick work of the Penguins on Friday by winning Game 4 of their Eastern Conference final series at TD Garden. Patrice Bergeron redirected Brad Marchand's centering feed past Tomas Vokoun at 15:19 of double overtime and Tuukka Rask turned aside a postseason-high 53 shots as Boston skated to a 2-1 triumph on Wednesday.
The NHL's leading scorer with nine goals, David Krejci has four in this series - which are two more than the sum total collected by Pittsburgh's entire team. The Penguins were the highest scoring club in the regular season, but have received a grand total of zero points from captain Sidney Crosby, reigning Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin and Norris Trophy finalist Kris Letang. In addition, Pittsburgh went 0-for-6 on the power play in Game 3 and is 0-for-12 in the series.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports, CBC, RDS
ABOUT THE PENGUINS: To a man, Pittsburgh's players and coaches essentially said the same thing. The Penguins need to focus on one game - and one game only - if they are going to pull themselves out of this deficit and hand Boston its second historic collapse in four years. "Looking at the situation, down 0-3, you can look at the odds, the history, it’s not a very encouraging picture,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “We don’t have to win four games against the Boston Bruins. We have to win one game (Friday) night to get this thing back to the 'Burgh. That’s what we have to look at."
ABOUT THE BRUINS: Fourth-line center Gregory Campbell suffered a broken right leg after blocking Malkin's shot during a penalty kill in Game 3. Despite being in obvious pain, Campbell remained on the ice for an additional minute before exiting to a standing ovation. "What he did, it kind of epitomizes what type of player he is," fellow Merlot Line member Shawn Thornton said. "He's been like that for probably his whole career, but the whole time he's been here, for sure." Veteran Jay Pandolfo and Kaspars Daugavins are likely candidates to replace Campbell, who will miss the remainder of the postseason.
TRENDS:
* Bruins are 5-0 in their last five home games.
* Under is 5-1 in the last six meetings.
* Penguins are 6-1 in the last seven meetings in Boston.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh won all three regular-season meetings between the teams, but Boston owns an 11-2 edge in goals in this series.
2. Rask's previous postseason high for saves was 45, which was accomplished in Games 3 and 4 of the first-round series versus Toronto.
3. Philadelphia overcame a 3-0 deficit to upend Boston in the second round of the 2010 playoffs