Doesn’t take a rocket scientist or an NHL expert to notice that the Boston Bruins are struggling over the past month. They’re still second in the East but are 4-5-1 in their last 10. Their +/- is has dipped to *gasp* +63, as well. Still, the team’s been off their game over the past month. We’re pretty sure this sums up Julien’s feelings toward how the team is playing right now.
Not too long ago fans were jerking the team off about how deep they are. Now fans are wanting another forward and top six defenseman. It’s amazing how opinions turn depending on what the team’s doing. Not saying opinions can’t change but it’s such a 180 in a short time. Were fans and media wrong back in December or are they wrong now? Now we’re getting all philisophical on you.
But depth is a serious concern, especially with the unknown return of Nathan Horton. And even if he does return this season, how effective will he be? He seemed hesitant for a large portion of the season and was just getting his mojo back when Sestito threw an illegal and unpenalized headshot at him.
Today they take on the Nashville Predators who are fifth in the West and are 6-3-1 in their last 10. Pekk Rinne is a solid goalie so putting in goals isn’t going to be a cake walk.
More after the jump…
Yesterday we wrote about Tuukka not happy with his playing time. Later on in the afternoon he cleared up his comments. Matt Kalman reported it via twitter:
#Bruins Rask clarrified quotes Tweeted by Finnish reporter. Basically what he meant was just that he wants to be the No. 1 someday.
— Matt Kalman (@TheBruinsBlog) February 10, 2012
Rask clarified that he gets frustrated being on the bench, the same way every competitive goaltenders does. Nothing against #Bruins or TT.
— Matt Kalman (@TheBruinsBlog) February 10, 2012
Re: Rask — basically, when you’re going from Finnish to English, somethings thing can get twisted in translation #Bruins
— Matt Kalman (@TheBruinsBlog) February 10, 2012
Of course, Tuukka has one bad game against Buffalo and plenty of fans are acting like he’s dog shit. He’s still fourth in GAA and tied for fourth in save percentage. Up until recently he was on pace to beat Timmy’s save percentage record. Players, even goalies, are going to have off nights. Shit happens. The entire team is slumping right now.
And no… none of that is a knock on Timmy.
In other news, someone has turned the DOY staff into Animated GIFs and put us on Tumblr. Does that mean we’ve “made it?” It means we’re Internet famous anyways… but who isn’t?
Man… look at those playoff beards. Trolling prop comedy at it’s best, too. We miss the playoffs. Let’s do it again this year, folks.
Projected Line up
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Milan Lucic-Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley
Benoit Pouliot-David Krejci-Jordan Caron
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
We expect the return of Tim Thomas tonight. Maybe he’ll even Facebook his thoughts between periods.
Media
Puck Drop: 1:00pm EST
TV: NESN
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
Online Feeds: Here
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Game Day Video
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