The Boston Bruins’ three-game trip to California didn’t get off to an ideal start as they dropped their first game to the San Jose Sharks, 3-2. Now, Boston will look to regroup against one of the hottest teams in hockey — the Anaheim Ducks.

The B’s last meeting against the Ducks at TD Garden didn’t go according to plan as Anaheim won convincingly 6-2 back on January 26th.

Anaheim dropped its last game against the New York Rangers, 2-1, but own a 22-9-5 record at home.

Matt Beleskey will make his first trip back to Anaheim since signing a five-year deal with Boston in the off-season.

Gametime: 10:00 p.m.
Records: Bruins 39-24-8 (86 points), Ducks 38-22-9 (85 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: Honda Center

Bruins projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Lee Stempniak
Loui Eriksson-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-Brett Connolly
Landon Ferraro-Noel Acciari-Jimmy Hayes

Zdeno Chara-John-Michael Liles
Joe Morrow-Dennis Seidenberg
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson

Ducks projected lines:

David Perron-Ryan Getzlaf-Brandon Pirri
Jamie McGinn-Rickard Rakell-Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano-Ryan Kesler-Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie-Shawn Horcoff-Ryan Garbutt

Cam Fowler-Simon Despres
Korbinian Holzer-Hampus Lindholm
Clayton Stoner-Josh Manson

John Gibson
Frederik Andersen

Matchup to watch: Jimmy Hayes against Ducks blue line

Jimmy Hayes has been held without a single point since the trade deadline. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

Hayes has been on the side of a milk carton lately. Over his last 10 games, he has yet to record a point while taking too many penalties.

With his drop in production, Claude Julien demoted Hayes to the fourth line during yesterday’s practice. Perhaps he did it to send a message to the Dorchester native.

Hayes was supposed to bring a heavy game to the Bruins, and while he has at times, it is way too inconsistent. It won’t get any easier as the Ducks love to throw their bodies around. Hayes cannot play timid because there is only one other way to go, and that is eating popcorn up on Level 9 with Boston’s media.

Storyline to watch: Another loss could spell trouble for the Black and Gold

The Bruins are hoping to avoid a repeat performance against a Ducks team that blew them out at TD Garden back in January. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

The B’s most winnable game on this trip was most likely against the Sharks, and that didn’t go well. Facing the Ducks with a quick turnaround against Milan Lucic and the Los Angeles Kings tomorrow night, Boston doesn’t want to spiral in the wrong direction.

It’s simple. The B’s know how to win on the road. They need to get off to a fast start. They didn’t do that in San Jose as they fell behind early. The defense needs to play just as heavy a game as the Ducks defense because players like Bergeron, Krejci and Marchand won’t be getting too much time to make plays happen.

The Bruins will definitely have a sour taste in their mouth following the first meeting back in December where the Ducks looked like a varsity team and the B’s looked like the junior varsity. We will see Friday night at the Honda Center.