Don't look now, but the Boston Bruins are well more than halfway to the Pittsburgh Penguins' NHL-best streak of 17 straight wins, set back in 1993.
For Boston, however, their toughest test en route to that prestigious mark may come today, as the red-hot Detroit Red Wings stroll into town for a Black Friday matinee.
After a start that mirrored Boston's 3-7 beginning, the Red Wings have bounced back, going 7-3-0 in their last ten to rise into the thick of the Western Conference.
And they're doing most of it with defense. The Red Wings are sixth in the league, allowing just 2.3 goals per game, while scoring at a rate just higher than that, netting 2.9 goals each time out.
Jimmy Howard has a 1.92 goals against in 17 games, going 11-5-1 in those contests. And Johan Franzen has been relentless, totaling a 10-11=21 in 20 team games and marking a team-high plus-10 rating.
Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have been consistent for Detroit as well - just like they've been for years.
But the Wings are a dismal 4-5 on the road, and Boston returns home after a three-game road trip with an 8-5-0 home mark.
The Bruins are winning faceoffs at a higher clip than any team in the league (54.7%) and are making the poewr play work to their advantage on home ice. That unit will have to be strong again today as Detroit's penalty kill is 22nd in the League at 79.2%.
Without the luxury of the morning skate, assume that it's going to be Tim Thomas (10-4-0, 1.85, .936) versus Howard in net, and expect the lines to look like they have recently:
Milan Lucic - Davic Krejci - Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin
Rich Peverley - Chris Kelly - Benoit Pouliot
Shawn Thornton - Gregory Campbell - Daniel Paille
Zdeno Chara - Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg - Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference - Adam McQuaid
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask