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Just the Facts:
Game Time: 7:00 PM, TD Garden.
TV Broadcast: NBCSN, NESN.
Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub
Rival SB Nation Site: Hockey Wilderness
Season Record: Bruins: 5-5-0, 4th in Atlantic Division | Wild 4-3-0, 4th in Central Division
Wild Lines:
Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville
Thomas Vanek - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle
Nino Niederreiter - Erik Haula - Justin Fontaine
Matt Cooke - Ryan Carter - Jason Zucker
Defense:
Jonas Brodin - Ryan Suter
Jared Spurgeon - Marco Scandella
Nate Prosser - Mathew Dumba
Goalies: Darcy Kuemper, Niklas Backstrom
IR: Josh Harding, Christian Folin, Keith Ballard
Bruins Lines:
Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Simon Gagne
Defense:
Dennis Seidenberg - Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski - Zach Trotman
Goalies: Tuukka Rask, Niklas Svedberg
IR: Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller
Game Notes:
- Listen, people seem way too shocked that Bruins defense can thrive without Chara. These weeks certainly won't be a breeze, but the Boston Bruins are not the kind of team to rely on one star. Players rose up to the challenge Saturday. Dougie Hamilton is developing confidence and finding his game. It's beautiful. Torey Krug said the Bruins are using the temporary loss of Big Z as an "exciting challenge" and this is the attitude everyone should have. McQuaid has been surprisingly solid. Maybe we should flash a Bat-Signal throughout the city of Boston saying "Don't Panic in October."
- The Wild have only played 7 games so far this season. They beat (tired,injured) Lightening 7-2, but they fell to the Rangers 5-4 in a comeback thriller last night. Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper has had three impressive shutouts in this young season but the way he blew the game last night was equally impressive. If Kuemper shows up, sloppy Bruins offense will just not be acceptable.
- Boston played a full 60 minutes of hockey against Toronto. It's encouraging to see that they are, in fact, capable of doing that. Now that they've proved they're more than a third period team, they need to keep it up.
NEVER FORGET:
A Smith goal would be ideal tonight.
Last Game in Fancy Stats:
Well, this is fun.