Bruins vs Sharks Preview: Do the Thing

Just the Facts:

Game Time: 10:30 PM, SAP Center.

TV Broadcast: NESN, CSCA

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SB Nation Site: Fear The Fin

Season Record: Bruins: 14-11-1, 5th in Atlantic Division | Sharks 12-10-4, 5th in Pacific Division

Sharks Lines:

Tye McGinn - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Tommy Wingels

Tomas Hertl - James Sheppard - Matt Nieto

Mike Brown - Andrew Desjardins - John Scott

Defensive Pairings:

Justin Braun - Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Brent Burns - Brenden Dillon

Scott Hannan - Matt Irwin

Goalies: Antti Niemi, Alex Stalock

IR: Raffi Torres, Troy Grosenick

Bruins Lines: (but really, who even knows…)

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak

Milan Lucic - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Reilly Smith - Chris Kelly - Matt Fraser

Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Simon Gagne

Defensive Pairings:

Dennis Seidenberg - Dougie Hamilton

Matt Bartkowski - Kevan Miller

Torey Krug - Zach Trotman

Goalies: Tuukka Rask, Niklas Svedberg

IR: Adam McQuaid, Zdeno Chara, David Warsofsky, David Krejci

Game Notes:

• After last night's 2-0 loss to the Kings, the Bruins have gone five straight games scoring two goals or less. Every little detail aside, you simply need to score goals to win the game. There's no way around that.
• I'd really like to see Seth Griffith back in the lineup tonight. Maybe he'd do a backflip into a behind-the-back shot or something. Or maybe he would just put the puck in the net.
• Last time around, the Bruins beat the Sharks 5-3 in a decisive win. It was one of the first victories of the season that seemed deserved and reminiscent of the Presidents' Trophy Bruins.
• We need to talk about Patrice Bergeron. Maybe our expectations of him are a bit unrealistic, but he's gone pointless in five straight games. His quiet consistency was a huge part of Bruins past success, and I hope he gets it back soon.

NEVER FORGET:

Ooh this Krug goal is gorgeous.

Last Game in Fancy Stats

This was a physical game where Sveddy held his own, Bruins really need to find the back of the net.