Just this past Friday the Bruins beat the Devils, 4-3, in New Jersey. Now the teams are playing again in New Jersey.

So what has happened since then?

Nothing for the Devils. They've been idle during the holiday break. This is their first game back.

Boston, however, was upset, 3-2, in a road shootout loss to the Senators last night.

The Bruins haven't lost consecutive games all season. I don't see it happening here either. They got the rust off against the Senators.

The Bruins are the best defensive team in the NHL and they have a rested Linus Ullmark in net after Jeremy Swayman was in goal against the Senators. Ullmark was in net when the Bruins beat the Devils five days ago. Boston built a 4-1 lead going into the third period in that game. There shouldn't be any letup for the Bruins this time around.

The Devils have tumbled back to Earth after a 13-game win streak. New Jersey is 1-7 in its last eight games. The Devils rank 24th in goals this month. They are down a pair of key defensemen with John Marino and Ryan Graves both injured.