The Bruins problem is easy to describe. They opened with a 3-0 shutout of the Rangers and a 4-3 win in Winnipeg, then lost 4-1 in Minnesota and 4-1 at home to Ottawa. Against the Senators, Ottawa scored 2 in each of the first 2 periods and the game was over before Boston got on the board in the 3rd. Ottawa did that without Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub on its blue line, and Boston still managed only 1 goal.
McAvoy is the biggest absence on either side. The NHL suspended him 6 games for a retaliatory slash on Buffalo's Zach Benson in Game 6 of last spring's first-round series. The series ended that night, so the whole suspension carried into this season. The Ottawa game was game 4 of the 6, which leaves him out for Utah too. Without him, Boston's back end has given up 4 in each of its last 2 games, and it's facing a Utah attack that has already hung 6 on somebody.
Utah has its own blue-line absence. Maveric Lamoureux is on injured reserve. That hasn't shown up in the results so far, mostly because Vejmelka has been very good. What decides Thursday is whether Boston's forwards can solve a goalie who has been that sharp, playing at the end of a road trip. The Bruins' 2 days of rest are the one clear advantage they have going in.