One hundred fifty-three [153]: That's the number of man-games the Boston Bruins have lost to injuries this season. But take a peak at the 30th ranked team in the NHL, Edmonton Oilers, and their number is more than double that of the B's – pushing 400 man-games lost for the season.
However, this is a perfect example of, “quality, not quantity” of injuries for the Black-and-Gold.
Twenty-eight [28]: That's the number of games missed for Bruins' No. 1 center, Marc Savard – 40% of the season – who has 10-23-33, plus-2, and 90 shots on goal in 41 games played this season. That's a tough pill to swallow when that player is the catalyst of your teams' overall offense, including the power play.
Here are some staggering, year-to-date stats:
When No. 91 is in Boston's line-up, the Bruins have a power play success rate of just under 22-percent, and average 1.17 points per game [in the standings]
When Savvy is out of the line-up, those numbers dip to roughly 10-percent success rate on the man-advantage, and 0.89 points-per game.
Coincidence? I think not
The Bruins are now zero-percent on the man-advantage in their last three games. Over those three games, they were obviously without their No. 1 center, Marc Savard, who is probably dunzo for the rest of the 2009-10 season. While other players have picked-up their games – Sturm-Bergeron-Recchi combining for 7-7-14 scoring totals in lieu of Savard – they haven't done so on the power play, now having gone 0-6 over that span.
In Boston's four games prior – Montreal on Mar. 2 through Mar. 7 versus Pittsburgh – the B's totaled 3-13 (23.1%) with the man-advantage. No. 91 contributed on two of those three power play points.
Savvy assisted [11th PPA on the season] on Marco Sturm's power play goal against the Habs on Mar. 2; and netted his sixth power play goal on the season [second-most on the squad] – the game-winning goal – in their 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday, Mar. 6.
Currently holding down the eighth-place spot in the Eastern Conference with 72 points, the Bruins look to close-out their seven-game road trip tonight on a winning note against the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center. The B's have compiled a road-trip record of 2-3-1 thus far, and could make things even more difficult for the ninth-place Rangers [71] – who are also in action tonight, against the seventh-seed Montreal Canadiens [76] – and their playoff hopes.
Boston has a league-high, 17 sets of back-to-back games. Tonight will conclude their 15th set, having gone 6-6-3 in game ones, and 6-6-2 in game twos.
The Bruins and 'Canes will be meeting for the third of four meetings this season, splitting the series 1-1, where the home teams' have each won their previous contest. In their lifetime series, this will mark the 173rd meeting between the two – with Boston holding the 90-64-16-2 winning record and a scoring edge of 593-415.
We'll see if Savard-lees Bruins can improve their power play and take advantage of Carolina's 20th ranked penalty-kill tonight.
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