When And Where
Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston, Mass,
Records
Bruins (8-7-2, 18 points, tied for second in Northeast Division, tied for seventh in Eastern Conference)
Panthers (5-9-1, 11 points, fourth in Southeast Division, tied for 13th in Eastern Conference)
Head to Head
This is the fourth of four meetings between the Panthers and Bruins. They will meet again at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., on Dec. 27 and Feb. 13, then play at the TD Garden on April 1.
The Bruins were 3-1-0 against the Panthers last season.
The Bruins lead the all-time series 25-25-6-3.
Skinny
Happy days are here again on Causeway St. as the Bruins are enjoying their first winning streak of the 2009-10 season. Their hard work, solid team defense and stellar goaltending seems to finally be paying off as they have beaten the Northeast Division leaders (Buffalo) and defending Stanley Cup champions (Pittsburgh) in consecutive games.
“That’s all you can do, just keep your head up and stick within your system,” captain Zdeno Chara said following his team’s 3-0 win over the Penguins on Tuesday. “We were playing strong defense throughout most that stretch but losing. But we stuck with it, we kept positive, kept it simple and then the offense started to come along. The last three games we really picked up that intensity and it showed.”
That win was also the team’s third shutout of the season, but even when the Bruins were being shut out or struggling to win, the goaltending and defense was there. Now it is just more evident in wins.
“We talked about this last week, where you got to stick with certain things you do well and hope to get rewarded down the road,” head coach Claude Julien said. “The one thing that was really hurting us was the fact we weren’t scoring goals because really that is putting a cloud over the fact we were still playing well defensively.”
The Panthers however, have been of the worst defensive teams in the NHL this season and have a habit of leaving their goalie out to dry.
“It’s not the goalies’ fault. You have to play better; you can’t give up free shots,” forward Michael Frolik told the media after the Panthers’ 7-4 loss to Washington Saturday.
The Panthers lost defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to free agency this past summer, and their young blue line has clearly struggled.
Projected Lineups
Bruins
Forwards
Marco Sturm–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille–Trent Whitfield–Vladimir Sobotka
Shawn Thornton–Steve Begin–Byron Bitz
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick–Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart–Andrew Ference
Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Panthers
Forwards
Rostislav Olesz–Stephen Weiss–Michael Frolik
Cory Stillman–Steven Reinprecht–Nathan Horton
Gregory Campbell–Michal Repik–Victor Oreskovich
Kenndal McArdle–Jeff Taffe–Ville Koistinen
Defensemen
Bryan McCabe–Keith Ballard
Jordan Leopold–Dennis Seidenberg
Bryan Allen–Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Tomas Vokoun
Scott Clemmensen
Goaltender Matchup
Bruins
Tim Thomas is 5-6-1 with a 2.23 GAA and .922 save percentage. With a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Thomas now has two shutouts this season.
Tuukka Rask is 3-1-1 with a 2.33 GAA and .919 save percentage. Rask has one shutout this season.
Panthers
Tomas Vokoun is 3-8-1 with a 2.99 GAA and .916 save percentage. Vokoun has two shutouts this season.
Scott Clemmensen is 2-1-0 with a 5.14 GAA and .838 save percentage.
Stat Sheet
Bruins
Forward Patrice Bergeron leads the team in goals (six) and points (12).
Forward Steve Begin had two helpers on Tuesday to bring his total to eight assists this season and he now has nine points.
Forward Mark Recchi got his 900th assist Tuesday and now has three helpers and three goals this season.
Defensemen Derek Morris and Zdeno Chara both have a goal and eight assists to lead the defense in assists and in points. They are also tied with Begin for the team lead in assists.
Defenseman Dennis Wideman had two assists Tuesday, breaking a 10-game pointless streak. Wideman now has a goal and three assists on the season.
Defenseman Matt Hunwick scored a goal on Tuesday and in the process broke a seven-game pointless streak. Hunwick now has four lamp-lighters and an assist this season.
The Bruins have scored and allowed 39 goals this season. They are averaging 2.29 goals per game and 2.29 goals against.
The Bruins went 0-for-1 on the power play Tuesday and are now 8-for-58 on the man advantage with a 13.1 percent success rate.
The Bruins’ penalty kill continued its amazing success Tuesday night, killing off two Pittsburgh power plays. Boston has now killed off 16 straight penalties and 28 of the last 29. The Bruins have only allowed 11 power-play goals on 61 power plays faced with an 82 percent success rate.
The Bruins are 6-4-1 at home this season.
The Bruins are 1-1-0 against the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins are 5-3-2 against the Eastern Conference this season.
Panthers
Steven Reinprecht leads the team in goals (nine) and points (14).
Nathan Horton has four goals and leads the team with seven assists.
Defenseman and captain Bryan McCabe (one goal, six assists) leads the defense with seven points.
The Panthers are being outscored 54-38 this season. They’re scoring 2.53 goals per game but allowing 3.60.
The Panthers’ power play is 8-for-61 this season, scoring at a 13.1 percent clip.
The Panthers’ penalty kill has allowed 15 goals on 59 power plays against them. They have a 74.6 percent success rate.
The Panthers are 3-4-1 on the road.
The Panthers are 0-2-0 against the Northeast Division this season.
The Panthers are 2-8-1 against the Eastern Conference.
Black and Blue
Bruins
Defenseman Derek Morris missed practice on Tuesday with flu-like symptoms.
Forward Marc Savard is expected to miss three to four more weeks with a broken left foot. He recently removed the protective boot he was wearing.
Forward Milan Lucic remains on injured reserve with a broken right index finger but has been practicing alone and is targeting a Nov. 19 return.
Panthers
Forward David Booth is on injured reserve and out indefinitely after suffering a concussion on Oct. 24.
Forward Nick Tanarsky is on injured reserve and out indefinitely with a broken orbital bone.
Forward Radek Dvorak is on injured reserve and out indefinitely with a torn ligament.
Forwards Domenic Moore (nasal surgery), Kamil Kreps (bruised foot) and Greg Campbell (facial laceration) are questionable for Thursday’s game.
This Date in Bruins History
On Nov. 12, 2008, Tim Thomas made 31 saves and P.J. Axelsson scored in the third round of the shootout to beat the Blackhawks 2-1.
Overheard
“You can’t complicate the PK. It’s about having good positioning, jumping on loose pucks when they’re available and having the smarts to change [lines] well and have the energy so the next guys can go out and be aggressive as well.”
–Defenseman Andrew Ference on the success of the Bruins’ penalty kill
Press Box
Bruins
With back-to-back wins, the Bruins are back on track.
The bounces went the Bruins’ way in Tuesday’s win over Pittsburgh.
Brad Marchand is getting some on-the-job training.
Claude Julien thinks David Krejci has some room for improvement.
Panthers
Former BC goaltender Scott Clemmensen isn’t seeing eye-to-eye with his head coach.
Kenndal McArdle doesn’t let much get in his way.
Radek Dvorak jokingly suggested the Panthers roll out a high-school line.
NHL
Check out the Northeast Notes at NHL.com
Forbes Magazine named the Toronto Maple Leafs the most valuable hockey team.
Ilya Kovalchuk thinks he’ll be ready to play on Thursday.
Outlook
The Bruins need to keep doing what they’ve been doing for over a week now and be careful not to rest on their laurels. Boston has found their balance again with the offense and special teams clicking and feeding off solid team defense and a subsequent transition game.
This could be an easy game for the Bruins to overlook with one of the worst teams in the NHL in the Panthers, but as Chara pointed out, the Bruins can’t afford to let that happen.
“Where are they and where are we in the standings?” Chara asked in a rhetoric manner, pointing out the small margin of seven points and four spots in the conference standings that can change so quickly. “Yeah, see what I mean? Things can change quickly if you don’t approach every game the same way and play with the same intensity.”
The Panthers are not one of the elite teams like the ones the Bruins have faced over the last two games, but they are scrappy and the Bruins will need to be scrappier. The Bruins finally seem to have built momentum, and now they need to ride it up the standings. In order to do so, they need another 60 minutes and a solid all-around game.
