Lightning roll into The Hub to face the Bruins

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Dec 2, 2009 9:00 AM EST in Game Previews

The Bruins play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at TD Garden. The Lightning enter tonight's game with a 10-7-8 record and find themselves in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. The Bolts are led by sophomore sensation Steve Stamkos, who is averaging better than a point per game with 29 points (17-12-29) through the first 25 games.

Know Your Enemy

Tampa Bay Lightning (10-7-8)

Head Coach: Rick "It's not a hockey related issue. It's a football thing." Tocchet

Season Series: 1st of 4 meetings

Leading Goal Scorers:

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Steven Stamkos	17	12	29	3	14

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Ryan Malone	15	8	23	8	18

Goaltending:

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Antero Niittymaki	13	771	6	3			28	2.18	408	380	.931	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Mike Smith	13	764	4	4			41	3.22	382	341	.893	0

Injury Report:

Boston Bruins Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Milan Lucic	ankle	11/26/2009

Patrice Bergeron sat out Monday's practice after taking a shot to the leg, but is expected to play tonight.

Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

No Injuries.

Notes:

- Adam Oates has been working as an assistant coach for the Lightning this season.

- Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger is currently on an indefinite leave of absence to deal with "personal matters".

- The Bruins will hold a press conference at approximately 11:15 am after the team finishes up with the morning skate to discuss Marc Savard's contract extension.

- Both teams have gone to overtime or a shootout 11 times this season. The Bruins are 6-5 in OT/SO games, while the Lightning are 3-8.

- The games starts at 7:00 and can be seen on NESN, Public Skate (open thread) starts right here a half hour before puck drop.

- For more on the Lightning, check out Raw Charge

Today's Obligatory Embarrassing Tampa Bay Fan YouTube Video

Since the Lightning don't really have fans, it was hard to find a video to post here. I guess I could have just posted Saw VI, but I decided to post a video of one of the most embarrassing sports fans on the planet: "The Happy Heckler". OK, so maybe he is a technically a Tampa Bay Rays fan, but I'm sure he has taken in a Bolts game or two.