As a heads-up, the chances of seeing a recap of tonight’s game is slim-to-none — at least not until later tomorrow at best. It’s the holidays and we’re very important people, as you might expect, so we have parties to go to and shenanigans to get into. We’re sure you’ll survive.
“We have to win Thursday.” –Mark Recchi (NESN)
Tonight’s game is huge for the Bruins. They’re still two points behind the Habs in the Northeast and have a few games on them, meaning a win would allow the Bruins jump from 8th place seed to 3rd, should the Habs lose to the ‘Canes tonight.
Of course, playoffs are still way in the future.
What’s more important is finding the Bruins’ heart, which Patrice Purrgeron risked life and limb to find. Bruins need to show their coaches, management and the fans that they care.
Bruins had an “emotion” practice on Tuesday, followed by a “sharpening skills” practice yesterday. Hard practices are great, but let’s break the math down:
Win = 2 points
OTL = 1 point
Good practice = 0 points
So those two good practices this week still means the Bruins haven’t done diddly in the standings.
Tonight we find out if those practices translate on the ice.
And what better opponent than the Thrashers who are doing well this year?
Now don’t give the Thrash too much credit. The teams they’ve laid waste to this month aren’t exactly Cup contenders: 6-3 win over Leafs, 7-1 win over Devils, 4-3 win over Ottawa, 5-4 win over Islanders, 3-2 win over Predators, and 3-1 win over Caps (who are a Cup contender, yes, but were in the midst of an 8-game losing streak). Teams the Thrash have lost to this month: Blues 2-4, ‘Canes 2-3, Lightning 1-2, Aves 2-4 and Pitt 2-3.
Still, the Trash are considered a hot team and the Bruins need to win this game to get some points, show some heart, and go into this mini-Christmas break with a victory under their belts.
After the jump… projected roster… game day links… game day video…
Projected Roster:
Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Nathan Horton
Tyler Seguin-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Steven Kampfer
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Game Day Links — Holiday Special:
- Angry Bruins’ lists his Bruins Festivus grievances… we were totally going to do that but Greg us to the punch. We still might do one; we’ll see. Greg’s an asshole, but he’s funny and we <3 him. Read it.
- More Bruins X-mas material from Angry Bruins: PJ the Mite Sized Forward. This needs to be recorded.
- Our Wicked Good Sports guest blog: Five Christmas sports miracles (that may/may not happen)
- ‘Tis the Season for Hockey Players with No Shame
Non-Holiday Game Day Links:
- Some guy Lawrence Tucker wrote an editorial on Boston.com about how fighting is a gimmick and has no place in hockey. In other news: Lawrence spends his time reading poetry about flowers, eating crumpets and discussing which side of the table the salad fork should be on.
- Joe Gill of BostonSportsThenAndNow.com thinks the Bruins need to can Julien… and yet…
- Peter Chiarelli: Claude Julien’s job is safe
Game Day Video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UeCRY1wciA&w=480&h=385]
Time to Go!
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