A good defense wins games, but putting the puck in the net helps a lot, too. The Bruins were ousted, 2-1, by a 31-save performance from Devils net-minder, Yann Danis, on Thursday night at the TD Garden. And the broken record continues—the Bruins went 0-2 on the power play Thursday night, now making their last five-game-total of 1-13 with the man advantage.

The Devils were without Paul Martin and Jay Pandolfo—two key players on the Devils' penalty kill—and yet the B's could not capitalize. Further, New Jersey played with five defensemen when Johnny Oduya left after just two shifts into the second period. Despite throwing the puck on Danis 32 times, most of those were weak attempts, right in the breadbasket of the Devils goaltender.

Today, the Bruins look to erase Thursday night's game from their heads as they play host to the Western Conference, Edmonton Oilers, in a Saturday afternoon matinee at 1pm. To help out with today's preview, we have NHL Examiner Chris Morgan giving us his take on the Oilers.

The Oilers are eighth overall in the Western Conference (7-5-1)—third in the Northwest Division—and rank sixth in the NHL in total goals-for (42 through 13 games).

The last time these two teams met was on Oct. 27, 2008 at the Rexall Place in Edmonton. Dennis Wideman netted the game-winner in overtime, while Tim Thomas backstopped the Bruins with 27 saves to a 1-0 shutout victory.

Edmonton signed 14-year veteran Nikolai Khabibulin this off-season to a four-year contract as the No. 1 guy between the pipes. Last time "The Bulin Wall" faced the Bruins was as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks back on Nov. 12, 2008. Khabibulin made 38 of 39 saves in a shootout loss, 2-1, at the United Center in Chicago.
 

Home Team: Boston Bruins (5-5-1)

Who's hot:

Patrice Bergeron: With points in three of his last four games, Bergeron also has six points in the last eight contests. Bergeron scored the lone-goal on Thursday night while adding four shots on net; and has a 60.1 winning-percentage on the face-offs since Marc Savard has been sidelined the past four games.

Who's not:

Marco Sturm: Aside from the Bruins power play (see above), even though on a three-game point-streak (0-3-3) Sturm still has yet to find the back of the net in his last eight games. Last year, Sturm lit the lamp seven times in his shortened 19-game season—with four of those coming on the power play. He was the one player whom the Bruins, and fans, relied on to help replace someone's 36-goals of last season (I refuse to say that player's name, now in Toronto). The B's desperately need more production out of the 31-year-old, especially with the absence of Marc Savard, and the poor performance as of late with the man advantage.
 

What to watch for:

I won't beat a dead horse here with the Bruins power play, again, but just keep that in mind. To vent for a moment here, watch the Bruins defense. If I've said it once then I've said it 100-times: Johnny Boychuk needs a spot on this team.
Andrew Ference just hasn't been the same Andrew Ference this season. He was a big reason for the second—game winning—goal in Thursday night's game against the Devils. He rushed the puck in the offensive zone, behind Devils goalieYann Danis, and turned it over. Shawn Thornton was covering his position on the blue-line, and the rest was history.
Matt Hunwick...I said I would leave this kid alone...and I will. He's gone from a chicken with his head cut off to just another Black and Gold sweater out there.
Dennis Wideman continues to giveaway the puck like candy to Halloween Trick-or-Treaters; and reigning Norris Trophy winner, Zdeno Chara, needs to polish that “C’ on his sweater and start taking over games like he can. Chara, of all the Bruins’ players, is the one who really needs to turn it up a notch.
I speak on behalf of many Bruins’ fans when I say, Give me No. 55, coach!
 

Who to watch for:

Only logging just over 10 minutes of ice time on Thursday night, Vladimir Sobotka put on a decent display of aggression. The 180 lb. Sobotka led all Bruins' players with six hits, and played with a lot of grit and energy in the loss. He has been put into a good-fitting role—no fourth-line duties this year—with Blake Wheeler and Daniel Paille. Although he's no definite substitute for Milan Lucic, Sobotka, along with Brad Marchand, are sparks that the Bruins can definitely feed from

Unsung/Under the radar players to watch:

Along with Vladimir Sobotka, watch Brad Marchand. I thought he had one of the best training camps this summer and rightfully deserves to be here in the NHL—helping the voids of Lucic and the traded Kobasew. On the second line with Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder, Marchand does a lot of the dirty work that allows his two other line-mates to do their thing with the puck. Marchand is not shy with getting his nose dirty and doing the gritty work—checking, fore-checking, back-checking, and causing traffic in front of the net.
 

Line combinations and D pairings

Marco Sturm—David Krejci—Mark Recchi
Brad Marchand—Patrice Bergeron—Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille—Vladimir Sobotka—Blake Wheeler
Shawn Thornton—Steve Begin—Byron Bitz
 

Zdeno Chara—Derek Morris
Andrew Ference—Dennis Wideman
Matt Hunwick—Mark Stuart

Tuukka Rask/Tim Thomas

Injury report:

Milan Lucic (10/19 - broken right index finger) and Marc Savard (10/21 - broken left foot) are both on the LTIR.

Away Team: Edmonton Oilers (7-5-1) By: Chris Morgan