[SBN Bruins blog - Stanley Cop of Chowder]
The Bruins and Penguins have a lot more in common than just the black and gold (more like yellow for Boston, but whatevs) as they square off tonight at TD Bank North Garden.
Injuries. Illness. You know, the fun stuff.
We know about Pittsburgh's injuries, so really there's no sense in bringing them up again here (for now at least). But Boston isn't entirely immune to the injury bug either. Milan Lucic, broken finger. Marc Savard, broken foot. Michael Ryder, flu(?). David Krejci, swine flu (although he recently returned to practice). Much like the Penguins' injury report, this doesn't take into account the guys out there playing through the typical bumps/strains/bruises that come with the territory.
The wins aren't coming easy for Boston, when they do come at all. On Thursday the B's were less than a minute away from getting shutout 1-0 to Montreal before Patrice Bergeron tied it up and sent it to OT and a shootout. In the end Montreal edged out the win but Boston picked up a hard-fought point in the process. That's the sort of team Pittsburgh's going up against tonight. Both teams will be scratching and clawing for a point or more.
Bergeron leads all Bruins with 10 points (5g, 5a), while Zdeno Chara and Derek Morris follow closely behind with nine points a piece. Let's also see if the Pens consider keeping an eye on former Penguin (x3) Mark Recchi, who's still showing that time is not a factor here in his 22nd NHL season. The Recchin' Ball has five points on the year (3g, 2a).
There's a good chance we'll see Tim Thomas get the start between the pipes for Boston tonight, although his 1-3-1 record over the last five starts is anything but flattering. But just in case, back-up netminder Tuukka Rask is the other option. Rask has seen a little bit of work over the past few seasons, starting only one game last season (a win) and three the year before (2-1). So far this season he's 3-1-1 with a win in two-staight.
The Bruins are 1-2-1 for the month of November and 7-7-2 overall, good enough for 10th in the East.
Puck and thread drop at 7pm. Join us. After all, it has to be better than a 5-0 loss to San Jose.
...right?