29. Chicago Blackhawks at Boston Bruins. Holy Shit A Bruins Game!

Four days off had me like

But now the Bruins are back and what a game to come back to. The Blackhawks are on fire right now, winners of their last seven and getting a healthy Patrick Sharp in the fold. Boston is also getting at least one of their fallen brethren back as Zdeno Chara should make his return tonight. It is possible David Krejci also makes a return but groin injuries are a fickle bitch.

Honestly, this is a matchup that should make your jeans a little tighter or your crotch a littler wetter. While the Bruins haven’t really been the Bruins, this is the perfect opportunity for them to take it to a top Western Conference team. Chicago is a monster, plain and simple. They’re currently 6th in the NHL in goals per game (2.59), 2nd in goals against per game (1.96), 1st in penalty kill (91.2%), 1st in shots per game (35.9) and 5th in faceoff % (52.4).

And they’re doing it without their #1 goaltender who hurt himself bopping around to some Rise Against.

Right!

This is a perfect game for Zdeno Chara to come back because you’ll be able to see a couple of things:

His overall health and strength of his knee.
What he actually means to this defense.

That’s why this is an important game to come back. If Chara came back against a scrub team like Edmonton or Carolina, it doesn’t prove anything. The Bruins should fucking roll shitbag teams at the bottom of either division. So if Chara comes back against a shitbag opponent and the Bruins roll, it doesn’t really prove anything. Yes, Chara probably helped but when you beat a team you’re supposed to beat – it doesn’t really mean much. If he comes back against a Stanley Cup contender playing their best hockey of the year and he has a great game, you can make a case that the big man is back and the Bruins are going to start trending upward.

I’m speaking positively about a Bruins season that has more or less been very un-Bruins-like?

It is a test of a team’s true mettle.

Projected Lines

So I am going to go under the assumption that Krejci isn’t going to play.

Milan Lucic – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Reilly Smith
Craig Cunningham – Chris Kelly – Matt Fraser
Dan Paille – Greg Campbell – Seth Griffith

Zdeno Chara – Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg – Torey Krug
Joe Morrow – Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Know Your Enemy

Our partners in the volcano, The Committed Indian.