Bruins vs. Leafs Game 1 Preview: MAY DAY MAY DAY THERE'S HOCKEY TONIGHT

Just the Facts

Game Time: 7:00 PM, TD Garden, Boston, MA. TV Broadcast: CNBC, NESN, CBC, RDS. Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Records: WHO CARES. IT'S THE PLAYOFFS. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

The Other Side's SB Nation Site: Pension Plan Puppets

Get Tickets here: Boston Bruins Tickets

Leafs projected lines:

JVR - Kadri - Kessel
Kulemin - Colborne - Lupul
McLaren - McClement - Orr
MacArthur - Komarov - Grabovski

Phaneuf - Gunnarsson
Liles - Kostka
Franson - Fraser

REIMER

Bruins projected lines:

Marchand - Bergeron - Seguin
Lucic - Krejci - Horton
Soderberg(or Peverley or Daugavins) - Kelly - Jagr
Paille - Campbell - Thornton

Chara - Seidenberg
McQuaid - Redden
Ference - Boychuk

Rask

Preview:

IT IS TIME.

The sun is shining, the trees are flowering, it's warm enough to walk around outside without a coat on. Everything smells like Spring: a new season, new growth, new everything. So it goes with hockey, too. The second season is upon us. Regular season records don't matter. There are no bottom feeders here. It's the playoffs and anything can happen. Tonight we put to bed all the speculation about who's got the edge statistically, mentally, physically -- and we ask our teams to prove it.

Prove it. Prove to us that you're the superior team, like we've been clamoring about since this matchup was announced. Get it done.

With Nathan Horton's return to the lineup after punching Jarome Iginla in the face and injuring his hand, there's some line adjustments to be had. The Patrice Bergeron line and the Merlot line both stay intact; however, it appears that Rich Peverley may be sitting this one out in favor of Kaspars Daugavins on the third line. The HuLK line is reunited, and Daugavins will play with Kelly and Jaromir Jagr.

On defense, it's looking more and more like that conditional pick in the 2014 draft the St. Louis Blues acquired for Wade Redden will become a sixth-rounder instead of a seventh-rounder; the condition was that it'd become a sixth if Redden played in a single playoff game. He's in for Dougie Hamilton tonight, as Claude Julien appears to be giving Dougie the Tyler Seguin treatment from 2011. Dougie's played over 80 games this season between juniors, World Juniors, and the Bruins, so I definitely don't disagree with this course of action.

This game is the Bruins' to win or lose. It's all on them. In eight hours, the puck will drop on the first big test of the season. Here's hoping they can seal the deal.