Penguins-Bruins preview

Some news, notes and numbers in advance of the Penguins’ game in Boston tonight:

*** The Penguins’ lines at their game-day skate at TD Garden looked like this: Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis, Jokinen-Malkin-Neal, Gibbons-Sutter-D’Agostini and Sill-Vitale. Adams. Forward Andrew Ebbett, recalled from Wilkes-Barre with Sill Sunday, apparently will sit out tonight’s game.

*** The Penguins’ past four regular-season games against Boston, all victories, have been decided by one goal.

*** Coach Dan Bylsma suggested that injured forwards Beau Bennett and Tanner Glass could be out for significant periods of time. Bennett got an unspecified injury against the New York Islanders last Friday, and Glass appeared to hurt his hand blocking a P.K. Subban shot while killing a penalty in Montreal the next night. “I don’t have anything definitive right now,” Bylsma said after the game-day skate. “I can probably tell you more this evening, after the game, on both players. Beau is looking a little longer-term, I would say that. But it’s not looking day to day on either of them.

*** Brandon Sutter, the Penguins’ third-line center, has four goals in his past five games against Boston.

*** This is another game in which scoring first could be especially significant. The Bruins are 11-2-1 when they open the scoring and the Penguins are 12-1.

*** Bruins winger Jarome Iginla said “it was a cool experience, a great experience” to spent the stretch drive and playoffs with the Penguins last season, but also made it clear today that he’s happy in Boston. “I enjoyed last year, the playoff run and getting to the conference final and the experience,” he said. “This year has been a lot of fun, too. I’m enjoying being a part of the Bruins.”

*** The Penguins have not allowed a power-play goal in six consecutive games, their longest such stretch of the season, and only one in the past 12. Their penalty-killers are 34-for-35 during that span.

*** Boston has outscored its opponents, 42-28, while playing five-on-five.

*** The Penguins have won seven consecutive games against Boston, the longest active streak of any Bruins opponent.

*** Penguins winger James Neal, who is coming off a two-goal game in Montreal Saturday, replaced his tinted visor with a clear one for a game in Washington last Wednesday, and apparently has no immediate plans to switch back. “It’s different,” he said. “But we won and (I want to) keep it going.”

*** Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz has a seven-game points streak against the Bruins.

*** Faceoffs can be decisive in close games, and there’s not much to separate the Penguins and Boston in that regard. The Penguins rank fifth in the league with a 52.9 success rate, while the Bruins are eighth at 52.1

*** Bruins defenseman Matt Bartkowski, a Mt. Lebanon native, is expected to make his 12th appearance of the season, which will be a career-high. “Starting in the playoffs last year and then this year, the more and more I’ve played, the more comfortable I’ve gotten,” he said.

*** Boston has outshot four of its past five opponents after doing it just once in the previous 10.

*** The Bruins are 15-1 when allowing two or fewer goals in games that don’t go to a shootout.

*** Boston is 49-22-3 in the past 74 games in which it has been assessed at least one fighting penalty.