Carolina Hurricanes (38-25-5, fourth in the Metropolitan Division during the regular season) vs. Boston Bruins (44-14-12, first in the Atlantic Division during the regular season)
Toronto; Thursday, 8 p.m. EDT
EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Boston leads series 1-0
BOTTOM LINE: The Boston Bruins take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference first round with a 1-0 lead in the series. The teams meet Thursday for the third time this season. The Bruins won the last meeting 4-3 in overtime.
The Bruins are 26-9-9 in Eastern Conference games. Boston averages 9.7 penalty minutes per game, the fourth-most in the Eastern Conference. Brad Marchand leads the team serving 82 total minutes.
The Hurricanes are 20-17-2 against conference opponents. Carolina is seventh in the league averaging 5.6 assists per game, led by Teuvo Teravainen with 0.7.
TOP PERFORMERS: David Pastrnak leads the Bruins with 95 points, scoring 48 goals and collecting 47 assists. Marchand has three goals and seven assists over the last 10 games for Boston.
Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 38 goals and has 66 points. Justin Williams has six goals over the last 10 games for Carolina.
DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Bruins: Averaging 2.0 goals, 3.5 assists, 4.5 penalties and 11.8 penalty minutes while giving up 3.0 goals per game with a .897 save percentage.
Hurricanes: Averaging 3.5 goals, 5.0 assists, 5.8 penalties and 12.2 penalty minutes while giving up 2.0 goals per game with a .938 save percentage.
INJURIES: Bruins: None listed.
Hurricanes: Sami Vatanen: day to day (undisclosed), Justin Williams: day to day (undisclosed).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by , and data from ,.
