Bruins vs Wild Preview: Rivals Since 12/17/2014

Just the Facts:

Game Time: 8:00 PM, Xcel Energy Center.

TV Broadcast: NBCSN

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SB Nation Site: Hockey Wilderness

Season Record: Bruins: 15-13-3, sixth in Atlantic Division | Wild 16-12-1, fifth in Central Division

Wild Lines:

Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Thomas Vanek

Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Jason Pominville

Nino Niederreiter - Charlie Coyle - Justin Fontaine

Brett Sutter - Erik Haula - Kyle Brodziak

Defensive Pairings:

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin

Marco Scandella - Christian Folin

Nate Prosser - Justin Falk

Goalies: Niklas Backstrom, John Curry

IR: Matt Cooke, Keith Ballard, Ryan Carter, Jared Spurgeon, Darcy Kuemper

Bruins Lines:

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Matt Fraser - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Milan Lucic - Chris Kelly - Craig Cunningham

Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Seth Griffith

Defensive Pairings:

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Dennis Seidenberg - Zach Trotman

Torey Krug - Kevan Miller

Goalies: Tuukka Rask, Niklas Svedberg

IR: Adam McQuaid, David Krejci

Game Notes:

• As annoying as the so-called "rivalry night" is, at least it allows out-of-market people (me) to watch the game on an actual TV. Do you think I could convince a bar in the middle of Pennsylvania to play a Boston-Minnesota game? It is rivalry night, after all.
• The Wild beat the Bruins 4-3 at the Garden October 28. Bruins have only one December win, and Wild have lost three of their five last games.
• More goals, please. Also hoping Claude Julien has ramped up the power play drills at practice.
• Seth Griffith had his Orresque goal the last time the Bruins and Wild met. Griffith, we aren't asking for a behind-the-back somersault this time. Please just find the back of the net.

NEVER FORGET:

NEVER. EVER. FORGET THIS.

Last Game in Fancy Stats

I'll take the point here.