41. Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins. Biggest Game So Far?

Normally if you called game number 41 on a schedule of 82 a ‘big game’, I’d call you a moron. Things seem a little different this season however. With the Bruins unable to grasp what kind of hockey they want to play, they’ve allowed themselves to slip out of the playoff standings – a point behind Toronto for the final Wild Card spot.

Tonight the Bruins face a legit Eastern Conference team that has Stanley Cup aspirations. They are currently entrenched in a battle with the New York Islanders for first in the Metro Division. While Bruins fans have used injuries as an excuse, the Penguins are currently fighting tooth and nail with a mumps outbreak but can still win hockey games.

I can throw all the stats at you to prove why the Penguins are a better hockey team this season than the Boston Bruins. They score more goals per game (2.97 to 2.55), they allow less goals per game (2.33 to 2.60), they have a better power play (22.2% to 18.5%) and they have a better penalty kill (87.8% to 79.8%) but you already knew this.

One can only hope MAF thinks it is the playoffs tonight.

The sad thing is you can’t even rip on MAF because he’s been pretty good (and carrying Marshall in Adam’s Division – god dammit).

But jokes aside, MAF has been really good this season. He posts a 2.18 GAA (12th overall) and a .926 SV% (15th overall). Take into account that the NHL stats page counts every start, so realistically MAF’s overall standings are higher when you remove the spot starters. Tuukka’s number are just bad. 41st in SV% (.911) and 38th in GAA (2.54).

That’s why this game is so important. If you can go into Pittsburgh and win – regulation or shootout – it is a much needed two points and it shows signs of life. After dismantling the Red Wings and then having to battle with Ottawa and Carolina, a win in Pittsburgh is just what the doctor ordered. One can hope that this Bruins team just plays to the level of their opponent which is why they played horribly versus Ottawa and Carolina but beat the tar out of Detroit.

The weird thing here is that Boston and Pittsburgh are relatively close possession wise. Pittsburgh corsi per 60 is 106.2 while Boston’s is 105.5. Even their on-ice shooting percent is relatively close. Pittsburgh is at 8.4% while Boston is at 7.7% so it is a real head scratcher as to why Boston is white-knuckled while trying to hold on to the 8th seed and Pittsburgh is sitting on top of their division.

Zone starts? Well, no. 51.2% of the time Pittsburgh starts in the offensive zone. Boston is at 50.8%.
On-ice scoring chances for per 60? Boston actually outranks Pittsburgh 27.4 to 25.8, but it is still close.

All of this is at even strength however so the issue could be on the power play.