They meet again.

Fresh off their 3-0 shutout victory on Wednesday, the Bruins will look for the home and home sweep against the Penguins on Friday night at the Consol Energy Center. Another B’s win would put them within three points of the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the Atlantic Division. The B’s will have two games in hand on their hated rivals after tonight.

As for the Penguins, well they’re a different story. Two games into Mike Sullivan’s tenure, Pittsburgh sits in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division. There’s still plenty of time to turn things around, but until the Pens get the more out of Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel, they’ll be on the outside looking in of a playoff spot.

Gametime: 7:00 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 17-9-4 (38 points), Penguins 15-12-3 (33 points)
Location: Consol Energy Center

Bruins projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Brett Connolly
Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-Loui Eriksson
Frank Vatrano-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Landon Ferraro-Max Talbot-Alex Khokhlachev

Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Dennis Seidenberg-Colin Miller
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson

Penguins projected lines

Connor Sheary-Sidney Crosby-Chris Kunitz
David Perron-Evgeni Malkin-Phil Kessel
Sergei Plotnikov-Nick Bonino-Patric Hornqvist
Daniel Sprong-Matt Cullen-Eric Fehr

Olli Maatta-Trevor Daley
Ian Cole-David Warsofsky
Ben Lovejoy-Brian Dumoulin

Jeff Zatkoff
Matt Murray

Matchup to watch: Patric Hornqvist vs. Bruins bottom-six

Patric Hornqvist fired four shots and tallied four hits in 14:34 of ice time against the Bruins on Wednesday. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

The one Penguin who was engaged with the Bruins in Wednesday’s matchup was Hornqvist. The former Nashville Predator fired four shots on goal, tallied four hits and got in the B’s face throughout the night. However, Boston’s bottom six got the last laugh against Hornqvist and the Pens third and fourth liners as Max Talbot, Jimmy Hayes and Ryan Spooner (on a power play) tallied all three of its goals.

Desperate to get the first two points of Sullivan’s tenure in Pittsburgh, Hornqvist, whose only blemish was a cross-checking call on Adam McQuaid in the third that led to Spooner’s empty netter, will look to build off Wednesday’s performance. Claude Julien has had to make in-game adjustments throughout the season with his bottom six, and another solid performance from Hornqvist and his new linemates for tonight, Nick Bonino and Sergei Plotnikov, could lead the Bruins coach to adjust on the fly again.

Storyline to watch: Will Tuukka extend his unbeaten streak to double digits?

Tuukka Rask extended his personal point streak to nine straight games after shutting out the Penguins on Wednesday. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

The stats during Tuukka Rask’s nine-game stretch speak for itself: 7-0-2, .952 save percentage and a goals against average of 1.36. That is a far cry from his first 13 games where his stat line read 5-8-1, 3.18 GAA, .890 SV%.

On Wednesday, Rask stopped all 34 shots he faced en route to his fourth shutout of the season. Sure, he had to make some clutch stops, but his defense kept the Penguins’ attempts outside the slot and Rask and company held the opposition to very few second chance opportunities. A repeat performance from Wednesday for Tuukka and company will likely result in Jack Edwards saying the following: “Two U’s, Two K’s and Two Points.”