The Bruins will host the Calgary Flames today at 1:00 at the TD Garden. This is the first and only meeting of the year between the two teams. Both squads are looking to lock down playoffs spots as the regular season winds down. The Bruins currently sit in 8th place in the Eastern Conference, 2 points up on the Atlanta Thrashers and 3 points ahead of the New York Rangers. The Calgary Flames have their work cut out for them in the highly-competitive Western Conference. With 8 games remaining on Calgary's regular season docket, the Flames find themselves on the outside looking in. The Flames are currently in 9th place and 6 points back of the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche.
The Bruins will try to bounce back from a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. The B's controlled the play for most of the night, recording 50 shots on net, but Tampa Bay goalie Antero Niittymaki held down the fort for the Bolts while the guys in front of him took advantage of the Bruins mistakes to rack up 5 goals on just 18 shots. The Flames are also looking to get back on track after losing 3-2 to the New York Islanders out on Long Island on Thursday night.
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Notes:
- This is the first meeting between the Bruins and Flames since October 30, 2008.
- While the Flames are still mathematically in the playoff hunt, the fans in Calgary have pretty much determined this season to be a lost cause.
- Marc Savard will address the media at noon. Claude Julien and Peter Chiarelli will also speak at the presser.
- Vladimir Sobotka skated with the team yesterday for the first time since suffering a mild concussion (which, the B's finally admitted after playing their usual injury report games). He is not expected to play today. Update (11:05 AM): Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe is reporting that Sobotka is expected to be in the lineup today.
- This feels like a Tim Thomas start. There was no morning skate, so we will have to wait until game time for the lines and starting goaltenders.
- The Flames are 27th in the league in goal scoring (2.51 goals per game), while the B's are last in the league with 2.38 goals per game.
- For more on today's game and the Calgary Flames, check out Matchsticks and Gasoline and welcome the site's new site manager Hayley to SB Nation.
- The game starts at 1:00 and the Public Skate open thread get underway at 12:30.
Today's Obligatory Embarrassing Flames Fan YouTube Video