The Bruins (29-15-2) are looking to get back on the right track tonight against the Stars (21-18-7) in the last of two meetings this season.
This game comes in the midst of yet another Tyler Seguin fueled fire storm after his new teammate Shawn Horcoff decided the sports world needed to hear his entirely irrelevant and kind of uneducated opinion about it all.
"I haven't seen a single thing that warrants any of the stuff that was written about him when he was in Boston," Horcoff said "I don't know, maybe he did want to come here and want to change a little bit, but the kid was 20 years old, he had a Stanley Cup, he signed a big deal..."
Horcoff went on to say that "In a lot of ways I blame the organization for not helping squash that. But that's in the past for him, he's become outstanding." So what can we conclude from this statement? Horcoff is about as intelligent as Seguin was when he decided mumbling profanities at police was a good idea. Aka really really stupid.
But moving on to more important things, Dougie Hamilton was diagnosed with a concussion and will be out for a short period of time. Caron is also obviously not in the line up (thank god).
This game comes in the midst of yet another Tyler Seguin fueled fire storm after his new teammate Shawn Horcoff decided the sports world needed to hear his entirely irrelevant and kind of uneducated opinion about it all.
"I haven't seen a single thing that warrants any of the stuff that was written about him when he was in Boston," Horcoff said "I don't know, maybe he did want to come here and want to change a little bit, but the kid was 20 years old, he had a Stanley Cup, he signed a big deal..."
Horcoff went on to say that "In a lot of ways I blame the organization for not helping squash that. But that's in the past for him, he's become outstanding." So what can we conclude from this statement? Horcoff is about as intelligent as Seguin was when he decided mumbling profanities at police was a good idea. Aka really really stupid.
But moving on to more important things, Dougie Hamilton was diagnosed with a concussion and will be out for a short period of time. Caron is also obviously not in the line up (thank god).
Bruins Projected Line Ups
Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Soderberg-Spooner-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Boychuk
Bartkowski-Mcquaid
Krug-Miller
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Soderberg-Spooner-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Boychuk
Bartkowski-Mcquaid
Krug-Miller
Team Stats
Team: The Stars are coming into this game with their first win in six games against the Oilers on Tuesday. The Stars are fifth in the Central Division with 49 points. They have a -9 goal differential with an average of almost 3 GA/game and just over 3 GF/game. They are 10-7-5 this season at home and the last time these two teams played the Stars won in a shootout. The team also ranks
Players: Offensively the Stars aren't exactly the biggest threat we've seen. 12 players have negatives ratings ranging from Chiasson's -15 to Daley's -1. The rest are either even or range up to Nichushkin's +11. Of no surprise, Seguin leads the team with 42 points off 21 goals and 21 assists and also leads the team in goals.
Goalie: Lehtonen will get the start for the Stars tonight. He's played in 37 games with a 17-12-7 record. He has a .916 SV% and a 2.63 GAA. Lehtonen has trouble with shots from the high slot.
Of Note: Ryan Garbutt has 2 goals and 3 assists in the past three games.
Players: Offensively the Stars aren't exactly the biggest threat we've seen. 12 players have negatives ratings ranging from Chiasson's -15 to Daley's -1. The rest are either even or range up to Nichushkin's +11. Of no surprise, Seguin leads the team with 42 points off 21 goals and 21 assists and also leads the team in goals.
Goalie: Lehtonen will get the start for the Stars tonight. He's played in 37 games with a 17-12-7 record. He has a .916 SV% and a 2.63 GAA. Lehtonen has trouble with shots from the high slot.
Of Note: Ryan Garbutt has 2 goals and 3 assists in the past three games.
Team: The Bruins have notably been struggling the past few weeks and are coming into this game after a 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple leafs in Boston. Despite the struggles, the Bruins are still at the top of the Atlantic Division with 60 points, although the Lightning and the Canadiens are quickly closing the gap. Currently we have a +30 goal differential with an average of 2.2 GA/game and 2.7 GF/game. The Bruins are 11-10-0 away this season (which isn't the most encouraging stat) and will begin their two game road trip with tonight's tilt.
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from even to Bergeron and Boychuk's +17. These two have surpassed Jarome Iginla for the top spot after Iginla had top the team in ratings with a +17 for several weeks. The rest of the team ranges from Caron's -5 to Kelly's -1. Krejci still leads the team with 36 points off 9 goals and 27 assists while Smith still leads the team with 15 goals.
Goalie: Once again, we will see Tuukka Rask between the pipes tonight. People are arguing that Rask needs a break but in response to that Rask has gone on the record as saying that he doesn't feel tired so the reason for the recent series of unfortunate game play is still unknown. But in any case, Rask has played in 37 games with a 22-12-2 record. He has a .928 SV% and a 2.11 GAA.
Of Note: Carl Soderberg has 1 goal and 3 assists in the last five games.
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from even to Bergeron and Boychuk's +17. These two have surpassed Jarome Iginla for the top spot after Iginla had top the team in ratings with a +17 for several weeks. The rest of the team ranges from Caron's -5 to Kelly's -1. Krejci still leads the team with 36 points off 9 goals and 27 assists while Smith still leads the team with 15 goals.
Goalie: Once again, we will see Tuukka Rask between the pipes tonight. People are arguing that Rask needs a break but in response to that Rask has gone on the record as saying that he doesn't feel tired so the reason for the recent series of unfortunate game play is still unknown. But in any case, Rask has played in 37 games with a 22-12-2 record. He has a .928 SV% and a 2.11 GAA.
Of Note: Carl Soderberg has 1 goal and 3 assists in the last five games.
Keys to Tonight's Game
1. We need to limit the number of shots the Stars get on goal seeing as they are 7th in the league for shots on goal. This entails keeping a close eye on the Ben-Seguin-Cole line, which is responsible for 1/3 of the goals for the Stars. We need to shut these guys down as early as possible and for as long as possible.
2. We need to our defense to give Rask a ton of net front support because we have learned from previous games that he can't constantly be standing on his head to support the inadequacies out front. Our defense is going to need to step it up and play good, aggressive hockey, especially with a team headed by the aforementioned line.
3. The Bruins need to stop taking penalties because we all know our penalty kill is not capable of handling them right now. Not to mention not taking penalties is kind of just general hockey sense.
2. We need to our defense to give Rask a ton of net front support because we have learned from previous games that he can't constantly be standing on his head to support the inadequacies out front. Our defense is going to need to step it up and play good, aggressive hockey, especially with a team headed by the aforementioned line.
3. The Bruins need to stop taking penalties because we all know our penalty kill is not capable of handling them right now. Not to mention not taking penalties is kind of just general hockey sense.
Score Prediction: 4-3 Bruins win
Until after the game,
Keep Calm and Bergeron!
Keep Calm and Bergeron!