Can we get one thing out of the way before I dive into this preview? Can we please stop talking about someone antoning for Shawn Thornton's injur versus John Scott? For some reason, people want to see Lucic or Chara go toe-to-toe with John Scott and my question is why? Why have one of your best (or better) players fight a guy who is in the NHL strictly to fight people? Losing Chara or Lucic for 5+ minutes (or worse if an injury is involved) certainly hurts Boston more than losing John Scott hurts the Sabres.
Enough is enough. It wasn't a dirty play, it wasn't a cheap shot, it was a fight. Enough. Is. Enough.
The Bruins are in Toronto, only their third away game this season. The Bruins will be missing some fourth line pieces as Danny Paille and Shawn Thornton won't be playing tonight. Instead, Boston has called up Jamie Tardiff on an emergency basis and Chris Bourque (sigh) will be back in the lineup.
The good news today is that Boston is playing the Maple Leafs, who have just left Hockey Town with their new starting goaltender. The bad new? James van Reimsdyk is on fire. I bet Philadelphia wishes they kept him around now huh? I'm sure Luke Schenn is doing amazing things on their blue line for them.
If Boston wants to win tonight, they need a defense to show up.. For some reason, people haven't been down on the defense this year and have chalked the loss up to Buffalo as more of a one-time thing than a seven game problem. Toronto is a fast team and speed can beat this team. Look at Gaborik, he skated up and down the ice on the Bruins defense.
This is going to be a lite version of the preview, but I wanted to make sure that I touched on a few things. I'm not completely sold on this defensive unit yet as I talked about in the post underneath this one. Chara has not looked like Zdeno Chara so far this season. He's been out of place and his decision making as been poor at best.
After the jump the lines and stuff...
Media:
TV: NESN
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
Online Feeds: Here
Projected Lines:
Lucic – Krejci – Horton
Seguin – Bergeron – Marchand
Peverley – Kelly – Bourque
Tardiff – Campbell – MacDermid
Chara – Boychuk
Seidenberg – Hamilton
Ference – McQuaid
Rask
Khudobin
Game Day Video
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