48. Ottawa Senators @ Boston Bruins - HEY THERE'S HOCKEY AGAIN!

BOS

Hey everyone, meaningful hockey is back!

I’m so damn happy. Finally all the All-Star Game bullshit is behind us. Skills competitions, fantastic bro hugs and the uselessness of the actual game itself are all a thing of the past. Now we can finally focused on the second half of the season and what the Bruins need to do to gear up for the playoffs. The first thing on that list?

Beat Ottawa.

Yeah, the Bruins need to beat the Senators to distance themselves from Ottawa in the standings. As it currently stands, Boston is 4 points ahead of the Ottawa (64 to 60) and Ottawa has played 5 more games than Boston. So with 5 games in hand, it’s okay to assume that Boston will win the Northeast Division and be one of the top 3 seeds in the East. Of course, one injury and this could all change, but here’s how the division breaks down post all-star game:

Wow, remember when people thought Buffalo would contend for a Cup? Guess having a shitload of cap room doesn’t mean anything when you can’t successfully manage talent. That Ville Leino contract will be the death of the team, mark my words.

I’m going to assume that Tim Thomas is in net tonight against Ottawa. Now they know what it says when you assume, so there’s a 100% chance I’m wrong. With that said, I believe most clubs who have a healthy number one goaltender will go with said ‘tender tonight. Also, Tim Thomas has pretty good career stats against the Senators. Let’s compare the two possible starters tonight in Tim Thomas and Craig Anderson:

	Games Plays	Wins	Losses	OTL	GAA	Save Percentage	Shutouts
Tim Thomas	15	12	3	0	1.80	.936	3
Craig Anderson	7	1	6	0	3.86	.875	0

Tim Thomas is pretty good. A lot of people want him ran out of town for stupid reasons. Instead of running a good player out of town, thank your lucky stars that you don’t have a goalie like Craig Anderson manning the pipes. Without Tim Thomas, the Bruins are going on 40 years without a Stanley Cup. Fact, not opinion.

Finish this off baby...

Projected Lines

Jack Edwards tweeted out the lines from practice today. There is also no Nathan Horton again. This concussion may be a bigger issue than most people think. Here they are:

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin
Beniot Pouliot – Chris Kelly – Zach Hamill
Dan Paille – Greg Campbell – Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara – Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg – Joe Corvo
Adam McQuaid – Steve Kampfer

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

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