Bruins head out west to take on Edmonton

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Oct 27, 2008 12:41 PM EDT

Photo by Getty Images

The Bruins are back on the road again. This time for a three game Western Canada trip which has the B's playing the Oilers, Canucks, and Flames. The B's are looking to get the trip off to a good start tonight when they take on the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place.

Just who are these Oilers?
Edmonton Oilers 4-3-0; 8 pts (4th in Northwest)

Leading Scorer
Shawn Horcoff 3 Goals

Goaltending
Mathieu Garon 5 GP 3-2-0 3.20 GAA .897 SV%
Dwayne Roloson 1 GP 0-1-1 3.00 GAA .900 SV%
Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers 1 GP 1-0-0 3.00 GAA .897 SV%

Guys Who Like to Drop the Gloves
Zack Stortini 29 PIM; 3 Fighting Majors
Steve MacIntyre 12 PIM; 2 Fighting Majors

Bruins/New England Connections
- Shawn Horcoff grew up with and is good friends with Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay
- Dwayne Roloson played his college hockey at UMass Lowell
- Dustin Penner played college hockey for the Maine Black Bears
- Fernando Pisani played college hockey for Providence College
- Steve Staios spent parts of two season with the Bruins from 1995-1997
- Steve MacIntyre played 62 games for the Providence Bruins last season
- Oliers Head Coach Craig MacTavish played for UMass Lowell and spent parts of 5 seasons with the Boston Bruins from 1979 to 1984
- The Springfield Falcons are the AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers
- Andrew Ference was born in Edmonton

Injuries
Fernando Pisani Day-to-Day (Back)
Jason Strudwick Day-to-Day (Shoulder)
Jean-Francois Jacques IR (Back Surgery)

Oilers Trivia
Oilers Head Coach Craig MacTavish is the last man in the NHL to play without a helmet.

Things to look for tonight:

- Will Michael Ryder stay on the 4th line and how will he react to the demotion?

- Milan Lucic's game will come back down to Earth and we can all stop with the Cam Neely comparisons. If the B's can get some offense from him, that's great but I'm happy with him just being a human wrecking ball.

- I know I have probably written this every game, but the PK needs to play better. Edmonton has the 10th best power play in the league (20%)

- One thing the B's have done well with this year is getting pucks to the net. The B's are 10th in the league in shots per game (30.9). The B's should continue to fire pucks in quantity tonight and challenge the Oilers goaltender. Oilers starter Mathieu Garon is 22nd in the National Hockey League in save percentage (.897).

- I would expect Tim Thomas to get the start in goal tonight.

- I would expect the faceoff circles to be in the correct location

- Look out for bloggers getting thrown out of the press box and landing on the playing surface

Today's obligatory embarassing fan video:

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Comments

If you're looking for more New England connections, Roloson, Staios and Strudwick all played for the dearly departed Worcester IceCats of the AHL, as well. Also, Denis Grebeshkov played for Manchester and Bridgeport (CT), Robert Nilsson for Bridgeport and Springfield, Penner for the Portland Pirates, and Mathieu Garon for Manchester.

by Adam from Worcester on Oct 27, 2008 9:46 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I realized that a lot of guys played for AHL teams in New England but if I included all those almost everyone has a New England connection considering that there are 7 AHL teams in New England.

by stanley cup of chowder on Oct 28, 2008 12:54 AM EDT reply actions

Actually make that 8 teams. I forgot about Bridgeport.

by stanley cup of chowder on Oct 28, 2008 12:55 AM EDT reply actions

You're right...boy I miss living up in New England with so much good, cheap hockey nearby. I live in Phoenix, so I either have to drive half an hour to pay way too much to watch the Coyotes, or watch the lousy-for-an-ECHL-team Roadrunners.

by Adam from Worcester on Oct 28, 2008 4:09 AM EDT reply actions