Oh god! The Bruins are 0-1! Panic! I have a message from a long lost friend of mine.
After the jump, the Bruins and Lightning preview
Simmer down.
The Bruins lost to a good Flyers team on Thursday. There’s no shame in that. YES, it would’ve been nice to see them win on the night they raise their Stanley Cup Championship banner but it didn’t work out that way. Shit happens. There are new lines that need to gel (Peverley on the second line, Seguin-Kelly-Caron on the third line) so it’s not surprising they looked a little lost last night. They did stop playing hockey in June and stopped partying in August.
Today’s game isn’t going to get any better either. The Bruins play Tampa, who demolished Carolina last night, 5-1 in Carolina. The last time these two teams played each other, it was one of the best played hockey games in the NHL playoffs with the Bruins winning 1-0 on a beautiful goal from Nathan Horton. Don’t think that Tampa has magically forgot about that night. They will have the fire power to be contenders this year and will once again test the mettle of the B’s. Stamkos, St. Louis, Vinny, hell even guys like Teddy Purcell were putting pucks in the net for the Lightning during the playoffs. We only hope that Stamkos’ alter ego comes out in full force once again.
Oh wait, Stamkos still hasn’t scored!
I think the Bruins still have some changes to make before they’re running like a well oiled machine. The first is getting Peverley off of the second line. I know it’s been one game, but between last season and Thursday’s game against Philly, Peverley has overskated so many pucks or hesitated on shooting so many pucks that it may become a detriment in the season.
Same with Chris Kelly. I love the guy and I was one of the few who thought he could contribute when the Bruins brought him in. I know everyone was on his jock after the Montreal series, but lets be honest, he can’t finish. He should’ve buried that 2 on 1 on Thursday and didn’t.
I said it before Thursday’s game and I’ll say it now. Seguin will end up on the second line before the All-Star Game. There’s no way Claude can see that talent and keep him on the 3rd line.
It should be an entertaining game tonight, but Boston’s going to have to step up even more. Tampa will be looking for revenge against the Bruins and will give them everything they got. Boston looked gassed on Thursday. Hope that changes.
Projected Lineup
I believe that McQuaid is good to go today, which is good because Bartowski sucks (and is from Pittsburgh).
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Peverley
Seguin-Kelly-Caron
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Chara-Seidenberg
Ference-Corvo
Boychuk-McQuaid
Thomas
Rask
Media
TV: NESN (finally, we get some Jack Edwards!)
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
Gameday Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6asIriTAhs&w=560&h=315]
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