The Bruins take on The Sabres tonight and it will be the first meeting between Ryan Miller and Milan Lucic after Lucic treated Miller like a forward. Miller missed the last meeting between the two rivals because of a concussion suffered from the hit by Lucic. Tuukka Rask will be in net tonight to try and earn some points to chase the Rangers for the number one spot in the East.

Have at it!

Last time the Bruins were in the Nation's Capital...well, nevermind.

Claude Julien continued the sneaky strategery on Saturday by putting Tim Thomas in net in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, thereby saving him from being thrown to the wolves at the Verizon Center on Sunday, where the Bruins look to end avoid just their second three-game losing streak on the season.

Washington came back from the all-star break slow, losing a 4-3 overtime decision to Tampa and a 4-2 bout with Florida before working over the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday afternoon. The Capitals started with Montreal at 2 PM on Saturday, so while they have the advantage of home ice, Boston will have had more rest and less travel coming into the game.

Continue reading this post »

The Boston Bruins look to turn around a mid-season swoon that's seen them go 5-4-1 in their last ten games today as the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins come to town.

Prior to a shutout loss on Wednesday against Toronto, Pittsburgh ended a six-game losing streak by winning eight games in a row, and has been playing some of the best hockey in the league since the calendar turned to 2012.

Evgeni Malkin (27-32=59 totals in just 44 games) has been playing some spectacular hockey in the absence of team captain Sidney Crosby, who continues to suffer from concussion-related symptoms. James Neal (27-21=48 51 games) and Chris Kunitz (14-18=32) have also been strong for Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile the Bruins, who had been playing the best hockey in the league in November and December, have been hampered by injuries, suspensions and the absence of strong fundamentals as they have fallen to inferior opponents time and again. After going 21-3-1 in the final two months of 2011, the Bruins are 8-5-1 since the calendar turned, and haven't won consecutive games since January 12th.

Continue reading this post »

Seriously, guys. it's been 21 days without a winning streak. And the worst team in the conference is in town. Let's at least beat them once this year? Please?

It's the game we've been wating an entire week for. So let's just get down to business, shall we?

Wondering aloud here: if Timmy takes exception to something that the Sedins do, could this be the first all-star game with a fight?

Seriously though, the poor guy can't go last two years in a row, can he?

I've never met a fake event with more hype that nobody cares about surrounding it in recent memory. Will Chara draft a Canuck? Will Thomas snub the Canadian PM (they're in Ottawa, after all)? Will the Senators get their due and go last collectively?

Anyway, the draft starts at 8. NBCSN has a pre-show at 7:30. You can watch them both or not watch anything at all, but you should definitely join in the conversation.

The first "half" of Boston's season wraps up today in Washington, and it's safe to say that many of the Bruins are ready for the hard-earned time off. But they'll have to earn two more points tonight if they want to truly enjoy it.

The Bruins will be without Nathan Horton tonight, and for an undisclosed amount of time going forward. The Capitals will be without Alexander Ovechkin for the next three games.

Boston, which also is without Andrew Ference, who is serving a suspension for charging the New York Rangers' Ryan McDonagh, looks to close out the first half of the season on a high note against a Capitals' squad that has seen its share of struggles lately, but has rounded into form of late.

Expect to see Benoit Pouliot in Horton's place on the right wing with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, and look for Zach Hamill to center Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly in Pouliot's absence on the third line.