The Boston Bruins set out for their four game west coast trip hoping to gain some ground in the Eastern Conference. Well, it hasn’t gone according to planned as the Bruins dropped their third straight Thursday night as they fell victims to the San Jose Sharks, 7-4.

It was a promising start for the Black and Gold as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, but just couldn’t hang on to any lead they had before getting blown out.

The struggling B’s have one more game to right the ship on the west coast heading over to Arizona to face the Coyotes. Again, it will not be easy without David Krejci or Zdeno Chara, but the B’s need to find a way to salvage at least two points or else the trip was a complete failure.

There are rumors that help may be on the way as General Manager Peter Chiarelli is traveling around looking for players to acquire, but nothing is imminent.

The B’s must try to make it work with the players they have instead of waiting for help to come save them. The Coyotes own a 4-6-2 record at home, but have lost six in a row at their place while the B’s fall to 5-7-0 record on the road.

On Boston.com: Bruins in need of a shakeup as things go from bad to worse

Here is your complete Bruins-Coyotes preview:

Gametime: 8:00 PM
Records: Bruins 14-12-1, 29 points/Coyotes 10-14-3, 23 points
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: Gila River Arena

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Milan Lucic-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Matt Fraser-Chris Kelly-Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Simon Gagne

Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton
Matt Bartkowski-Kevan Miller
Torey Krug-Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Coyotes’ projected lines:

Tobias Rieder-Antoine Vermette-Mikkel Boedker
Lauri Korpikoski-Sam Gagner-Shane Doan
Brandon McMillian-Martin Hanzal-Martin Erat
Kyle Chipchura-Joe Vitale-Rob Klinkhammer

Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Zbynek Michalek
Keith Yandle-Michael Stone
David Schlemko-Chris Summers

Mike Smith
Devan Dubnyk

Who to watch for Bruins: Reilly Smith

Reilly Smith made himself visible Thursday night in San Jose scoring his first goal in 11 games for the Black and Gold. He added another to tie the game at 3-3.

It was a good sign for the B’s as Smith has been struggling over the last few weeks. On Thursday night, he scored two goals, he had four shots on net, added three hits, blocked a shot and did all of this in under 15 minutes of ice time. For Smith, it is hopefully a sign of things to come after being demoted since the call up of David Pastrnak.

Smith didn’t even have a point in his last 10 contests, but he has to be pretty happy getting the monkey off his back. The 23 year-old can’t be satisfied with one good performance though. He must carry his intensity and aggressiveness into Arizona on Saturday night and make a habit of lighting the lamp or helping his teammates create scoring opportunities like he did Thursday night in San Jose.

Who to watch for Coyotes: Keith Yandle

Keith Yandle has been a target of the Bruins for quite some time. He was born in Boston and grew up a Bruins fan, but at 28 years old, he finds himself leading the Coyotes in points with 18 including three goals and 15 assists.

In Yandle’s last five games, he has contributed with three assists. The 6-foot-1 defenseman logs over 21 minutes per contest and isn’t afraid to shoot the puck. With 87 shots on the year, Yandle ranks 10th in the National Hockey League.

Coming off a season where he played in every game, he scored eight goals and assisted on 45 others. His minus-23 is a statistic he may be criticized for, but Yandle is a unique talent.

Game Day Edge: Salvage the road trip with two points

Playing teams such as the Ducks, Kings and Sharks without Zdeno Chara and David Krejci on the road is not easy. But, playing the Coyotes, who rank next to last in the Western Conference, should not be a difficult feat to escape with two points.

Like the Bruins, the Coyotes are coming off a loss as they got beaten 4-0 by the Kings. If there is ever a time to play with any desperation, it’s Saturday night. The B’s cannot go on a west coast trip and come back empty.

It seems as if the scoring is starting to come around while the defense is starting to have some lapses. Zdeno Chara can’t come back soon enough, but for now, the Black and Gold just need to find a way to escape with two points.