The Bruins have built themselves a successful 7-2-1 record over their last 10 games which included a nice four game winning streak during the last two weeks of November. But over the last two games (1-1-0) Boston has hit that rollercoaster slide of alternating wins and losses, and picking their worst game to play (against Montreal) and one of their best (7-2 over Toronto) of the season.
Tonight, the Bruins look to make it two-in-a-row against No.81 and the Toronto Maple Leafs at the TD Garden. Action at 7pm EST can be seen on NESN and heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
To help with this preview, the Toronto Maple Leafs Examiner Andrew Kavanagh has given us some more insight on the enemy Leafs.
- Boston is 10-1-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
- Dating back to last season, the Bruins hold a 6-1-0 record against the Leafs, have gone 16-for-26 (61.5%) on the power-play, and have successfully killed 23-of-29 (79.3%) times short-handed against the Leafs.
- Boston is 3-1-0 at home against Toronto since the 2008-09 season, and 3-0-0 at the Air Canada Centre, while outscoring the Maple Leafs 36-23 during that span.
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Home Team: Boston Bruins (15-9-5, 35 points, 2nd Northeast Division, 5th Eastern Conference, 3-1-1 last five)
Who's hot: Marc Savard netted his third career NHL hat trick on Saturday night and now has 4-3-7 in his last six games.
Zdeno Chara is 1-4-5 plus-4 in his last four games. Chara also leads the team with 81 shots on goal.
Patrice Bergeron has 1-4-5 and has won 74.6-percent of the face off draws during his last three games—and 2-8-10 and a plus-5 rating in the last eight contests.
Mark Recchi has 1-4-5 with a plus-4 rating in his last four games.
Marco Sturm has 3-1-5 in his last three games, along with a plus-5 rating, and a whopping 16 shots on goal.
Tuukka Rask has a 5-0-1 record in his last six starts. The 22-year old is now 8-2-2 on the season, ranks second in the NHL with a 1.97 goals-against average, and third overall in save-percentage with .932.
Who's not: Tim Thomas is 2-1-0 in his three starts since his injury; but has a .874 save-percentage during that span. Thomas has now allowed nine goals-against in his last three starts—15 in his last five—including five against the Montreal Canadiens last Friday night, while playing just 40 minutes.
What to watch for: Special teams. The Bruins 86.1-percent on the penalty-kill ranks them second overall in the NHL - 70-for-75 in their last 22 games and 17-for-18 in their last five. The power-play to-date isn't ideal for the Bruins, but much improved as of late to say the least. Roughly three weeks ago, Boston had a 12.1-percent success rate with the man-advantage. Nine games later, and the B's are now up to 17.1-percent (18-for-105) on the power play —6-for-19 in their last five—for 23rd in the league.
Who to watch for: No shocker here for those who know me: Johnny Boychuk. The 25-year-old was finally dress in Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after being assigned to AHL Providence just three days before, and listed as a healthy scratch for the majority of the season. Boychuk netted his first NHL goal while logging over 17 minutes of ice time, and has proven once again why he deserves more playing time at the NHL level.
Matt Hunwick was finally a healthy scratch on Saturday, which made room for Boychuk to play. If No. 48 is in tonight, however, I'd expect a new-found fire lit under his butt and to have one of his better performances of the year.
Line Combinations:
Blake Wheeler—Marc Savard—Byron Bitz
Marco Sturm—Patrice Bergeron—Mark Recchi
Vladimir Sobotka—David Krejci—Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton—Steve Begin—Daniel Paille
Zdeno Chara—Derek Morris
Andrew Ference—Dennis Wideman*
Johnny Boychuk—Mark Stuart
Tuukka Rask—Tim Thomas
Injury Report: *Dennis Wideman missed all three practices this week, but skated solo under the eye of Bruins' strength and conditioning coach, John Whitesides, on Tuesday and Wednesday. If Wideman is unavailable, Boychuk and Hunwick will be the 5th/6th blue-liners tonight. Milan Lucic, out on Nov. 25 with a high ankle sprain, expected to miss up to four weeks.
Visiting Team: Toronto Maple Leafs (10-13-7, 27 points, 5thNortheast Division, 14 Eastern Conference, 4-1-0 last five)
By: Andrew Kavanagh Toronto Maple Leafs Examiner
It may be hard to believe but the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the hottest teams in the entire league. They have a record of 7-2-2 in their last 11 games and have climbed their way out of the basement to within 5 points of a playoff spot.
Tonight, Phil Kessel will get a second chance to silence the Boston crowd as the Leafs head back to the TD Garden to take on the Bruins. Due to an irregularity in the scheduling, Boston gets to host Toronto for the second time in less than a week. Toronto is hoping this visit is nothing like the last. Luckily the Leafs have had the chance to knock off 2 straight wins since the 7-2 drubbing they suffered at the hands of the Bruins on Saturday. The Maple Leafs are a confident team heading into tonight’s game so don’t expect another Boston blow-out win.
Who’s hot: Mikhail Grabovski recorded an assist last night against the Islanders and has 2 G and 3 A in his last 4 games.
Matt Stajan rebounded from a slow start to the season and has 2 G and 3 assists in his last 5 as well as a +5 rating.
Jason Blake has scored more goals in his past 4 games than he had in the 26 games to start the season. He’s notched 3 goals and 1 assist in his past 4 games along with an impressive +5 rating.
Lee Stempniak has 2 G and 2 A in his past 4 games.
Ian White has 2 A in his last 2 games and went +5 in those two contests. He increased his team leading +/- to +11.
Vesa Toskala has turned his season around. He has 2 wins in his last 2 starts along with an impressive 2.00 GAA and .929 SV%
Who’s not: Phil Kessel is on a bit of a slump with a mere 1 assist in his last 3 games. He’s also a -1 over that stretch.
Nikolai Kulemin has been struggling a bit lately with only 1 G and 1 A in his last 5.
Mike Komisarek is yet to record a single point in the 22 games he has played this season. He’s also a team-worst -8 this season.
What to watch for: Can the Leafs score first? Over the past 6 games the Leafs have scored first 4 times, and been scored on first on two occasions. Toronto has won each of the games in which they struck first and went on to lose each of the games they spotted the opposition the lead. Scoring first against Boston could prove to be critical to have any chance of continuing this hot streak the Leafs are on.
Who to watch for: Vesa Toskala hasn’t started in back-to-back games all season long. He has been outstanding in his last two starts, so Ron Wilson could be tempted to let him start tonight against Boston. If he does indeed play, which Vesa Toskala will we see? The one who has a 2.00 GAA and .929 SV% in his past 2 starts? or the one who allowed 26 goals against in his first 6 starts of the season?
Line combinations:
P. Kessel - M. Stajan – N. Hagman
J. Blake - M. Grabovski – A. Ponikarovsky
L. Stempniak - W. Primeau – N. Kulemin
J. Mayers – R. Wallin – C. Orr
T. Kaberle – F. Beauchemin
I. White – M. Komisarek
G. Exelby – L. Schenn
V. Toskala – J. MacDonald
Injury report: Jonas Gustavsson is still 7-10 days away from returning to action as he recovers from surgery to repair an irregular heartbeat. John Mitchell is on the IR and out indefinitely with a knee injury. Carl Gunnarsson is on the IR and expected to miss 6 weeks with a hyper extended elbow. Mike Van Ryn will miss the remainder of the season due to left knee surgery. Jeff Finger was a healthy scratch for the second straight game Wednesday against the Islanders.
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