In the last of three meetings, the Bruins (32-15-3) go head to head with the Islanders (21-25-8) tonight at Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in hopes of extending our win streak to two and gaining momentum for a 2 games in 2 days tilt.
Chris Kelly will not be in the line up tonight, although Coach said he was likely for tomorrow's game against the Panthers. Spooner has recovered from the illness that took him out of our last game so he will be returning tonight. Adam McQuaid did not make the trip with the team.
Chris Kelly will not be in the line up tonight, although Coach said he was likely for tomorrow's game against the Panthers. Spooner has recovered from the illness that took him out of our last game so he will be returning tonight. Adam McQuaid did not make the trip with the team.
Bruins Projected Line Up
Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Soderberg-Spooner-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-Miller
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Soderberg-Spooner-Eriksson
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-Miller
Team Stats
Team: The Islanders are 2-0 against the Bruins this season and are coming into this game after an overtime loss against the Blues. The Islanders are really not as impressive as the Bruins tend to make them look. They're last in the Metropolitan division with 50 points and have a -25 goal differential. They have an average 3.3 GA/game (29th in the league) and an average of 2.7 GF/game (13th in the league). Their power play tends to be fantastic against the Bruins for some reason despite the fact that it is 18th in the league with a 18.1% conversion. The Islanders are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
Players: The whole team is based around the top two lines. These lines are quite literally the only positives this team has. 20 of their guys have negative ratings on the ice ranging from Tavares' -1 to McDonald's -16. The others range from even to Vanek's +9. Tavares leads the team with 64 points and also leads the team with 23 goals (12th in the league).
Goalie: Poulin will get the nod tonight. He's played in 27 games with a 11-15-1 record. He has a 3.16 GAA (65th in the league) and a .894 SV% (67th in the league). To put that into perspective, there are only 81 goalies in the league. He's really not that good.
Players: The whole team is based around the top two lines. These lines are quite literally the only positives this team has. 20 of their guys have negative ratings on the ice ranging from Tavares' -1 to McDonald's -16. The others range from even to Vanek's +9. Tavares leads the team with 64 points and also leads the team with 23 goals (12th in the league).
Goalie: Poulin will get the nod tonight. He's played in 27 games with a 11-15-1 record. He has a 3.16 GAA (65th in the league) and a .894 SV% (67th in the league). To put that into perspective, there are only 81 goalies in the league. He's really not that good.
Team: The Bruins obviously don't have a very good streak with the Islanders this season but are looking to end the series on a high note. We're coming into this game on a two game win streak after beating the Flyers 6-1 Saturday. We're still first in Atlantic Division with 67 points. We have a +37 goal differential with an average of 2.14 GA/game (2nd in the league) and an average of 2.92 GF/game (6th in the league). In this game our penalty kill will be extremely important and we're 14th in the league with an 82.4% success rate.
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from Miller's +1 to Bergeron's +23. The others range from even to Soderberg's -2. Krejci still leads the team with 42 points (36th in the league) while Reilly Smith and Brad Marchand lead the team with 16 goals (36th in the league).
Goalie: Chad Johnson will get the start tonight. He's played in 13 games with an 8-3 record. He has a 2.08 GAA (21st in the league) and a .918 SV% (26th in the league).
Players: 19 of our guys have positive ratings ranging from Miller's +1 to Bergeron's +23. The others range from even to Soderberg's -2. Krejci still leads the team with 42 points (36th in the league) while Reilly Smith and Brad Marchand lead the team with 16 goals (36th in the league).
Goalie: Chad Johnson will get the start tonight. He's played in 13 games with an 8-3 record. He has a 2.08 GAA (21st in the league) and a .918 SV% (26th in the league).
Bruins Keys to Winning
1. I've said it before I'll say it again: we need to shut down their first line. That line walked all over last game, both on the power play and off. We can't give them the same opportunities we gave them last time. Shut them down and we have successfully ended the Islanders chances of winning this game.
2. Our penalty kill and power play need to get their act together this game because that's how the Islanders managed to take advantage of us in the past.
3. We need to establish ourselves in front of the net and just keep shooting. Our problem the last time we played the Islanders was our inability to get shots off or shooting in an entirely inefficient and carefree manner. If we fix this and keep traffic in front of the net, we shouldn't have too much trouble.
2. Our penalty kill and power play need to get their act together this game because that's how the Islanders managed to take advantage of us in the past.
3. We need to establish ourselves in front of the net and just keep shooting. Our problem the last time we played the Islanders was our inability to get shots off or shooting in an entirely inefficient and carefree manner. If we fix this and keep traffic in front of the net, we shouldn't have too much trouble.
Score Prediction: 4-3 Bruins Win
Until after the game,
Keep Calm and Bergeron!
Keep Calm and Bergeron!