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Bruins vs. Blue Jackets 3/16/19 PREVIEW: Here we go again

A team beaten to hell, a team demanding respect. This could get ugly.

By SkyonAir
NHL: Boston Bruins at Columbus Blue Jackets Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

Just the Facts:

The Time: 7pm EST

The Place: TD Garden, Boston, MA

The Stakes: The Bruins have at long last given up some ground no thanks to a truly abysmal stretch of games in which they got no points, and now Toronto is within 2 points of 2nd place in the division. A win here keeps them at arm’s length. It doesn’t really matter, as the B’s and Leafs will play each other, but it helps to have home-ice.

Place to Watch: NESN, Fox Sports-Ohio, ESPN+

Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub, 97.1 FM The Fan

Opposing SBNation Blog: The Cannon

Know Your Enemy:

  • The leading point-getter for the Jackets is the guy everyone has designs to get this offseason; Artemi Panarin, who has 75 points in 68 games.
  • Cam Atkinson, one of the Alternate Captains of the Blue Jackets, is your goal-scoring leader, with 38 goals in a nice and tidy 69 games.
  • Sergei Bobrovsky is once again back to being mercurial, and has currently posted a .909 SV% throughout 53 starts. Not that he cared when he blanked Carolina on Thursday.

Game Preview:

The Boston Bruins should take care to try and put the Jackets out of sorts quickly, as their last game against them was...poor, to say the absolute least. Injuries, miserable performances, entire lines going cold at the worst possible time...if there were positives to their last meeting, it’s that it ended.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t even get as far as “And we’ll never have to see them again”, as the B’s face the Jackets tonight and then in the final stretch of the year on their turf. And it looks like after a brief scare, Ohio’s fourth favorite sons are back on track; even summoning a goal from Adam McQuaid last game in a shutout!

The biggest thing for the B’s is starting the game on time, which has been a real problem as the team struggles to come up with consistency throughout it’s battered lineup. Who knows what the lines will look like at practice, but whatever they are, Bruce better be ready to hit these guys hard.

Or Toronto’s going to gain some ground. And we don’t need that, now do we?