Now that the have Bruins tied their series with the Buffalo Sabres at 1-1, it now shifts to The Hub of Hockey for Games 3 and 4, but is playing in front of the Causeway Crowd an advantage for the Bruins? A loud and boisterous crowd of guys named Sully and Murph should be a huge edge for the hometown team, but this is the team that finished the season with a mediocre 18-17-6 home record and went over two months without a home win.
Looking deeper at the numbers, in many respects the B's played better at home during the regular season despite their record:
Home | Road | |
Goals For | 99 | 97 |
Goals Against | 97 | 94 |
Power Play Goals For | 30 | 14 |
Power Play Goal Against | 16 | 21 |
Shorthanded Goals For | 4 | 2 |
Shorthanded Goals Against |
3 | 1 |
Power Play % |
19.4% |
12.7% |
Penalty Kill | 88.9% | 83.6% |
Record | 18-17-6 | 21-13-7 |
Team +/- | -12 | +10 |
Of course, this is the playoffs. So, you can threw out all the regular season numbers and wipe the slate clean. This is a whole new season and you can be sure that The Garden will be packed on Monday with fans rooting for the Black & Gold and creating a difficult environment for the visiting Sabres.