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The Bruins find themselves in the unenviable position of being down 0-2 in a best-of-seven series and having to hit the road for Game 3 and 4. The Bruins will try to get their first win of their series vs. the Montreal Canadiens tonight at the Bell Centre.
The big question on everyone's minds is "Will Zdeno Chara play?" Well, the B's big defenseman was on the ice for the morning skate this morning at the Bell Centre and led his team in the post-skate stretch. While, Chara looked like he is ready to play, Claude Julien was not making any guarantees (perhaps he learned something from David Krejci), saying "As we speak, it's looking good, but I can't stand here right now and say he's a definite in."
Tim Thomas appears to be the starter tonight for the B's. There was some speculation by Bruins fans that Tuukka Rask could get the nod in goal tonight, but that does not appear to be the case as Thomas was the first goalie to leave the ice during the morning skate.
For those of you hoping to see Tyler Seguin in the lineup, tonight probably will not be the night. The rookie forward stayed on the ice for an extended skate this morning, which usually is a sign of a healthy scratch.
Notes:
- Andrei Kostitsyn (foot) and Jeff Halpern (lower body) are game-time decisions for the Habs. Kostitsyn skated on the right wing with Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammallerri during the morning skate.
- The Bruins did not run full line drills during the morning skate, so we will have to wait until game time to see if Claude Julien shuffled the lines.
- Audio from Claude Julien's press availability after the morning skate.
- The Bruins guarded their captain Zdeno Chara from facing the media this morning.
- It looks like Bob Ryan and Pat Hickey have got themselves into a pissing contest.
- It is pretty clear, if Claude Julien can't find a away to motivate his team to come back and win this series, his days behind the Bruins bench are numbered.
- The Bruins have given up the first goal in both games and dug themselves early holes. They need to get on the board early tonight, neutralize the crowd a bit, and let the Habs play catch-up. Montreal was 12-24-2 in the regular season when giving up the game's first goal.
- At the time of publish, most books had the Bruins as slight favorites tonight.
- The Bruins announced over the weekend that they have signed 2009 6th round pick Tyler Randell to an entry-level deal.
- Your Ironic Tweet of the Day comes from Chris "Knuckles" Nilan telling you not to steal
- Speaking off Knuckles, he thinks that he could take Chara in fight at the age of 53. Trust me this video is worth watching, not just for Knuckles' ridiculous claim but also for the large quantity of douchiness and awkward high fives by Habs fans.
- The game starts at 7:30 PM ET and will air on NESN locally.
- The Public Skate open thread start at 7:00 PM ET. I swear I will remember to schedule it this time.
- Milan Lucic summed up the Bruins' current situation pretty well after Sunday's practice:
We’re in trouble right now and we need to find a way to rally and get our heads around it. And everyone needs to step up and play the way we know we can."
- Patrice Bergeron spoke to the media after the morning skate: