Bruins Shoot for Two in a Row Over Toronto in KesselMania II

After a lengthy four-day hiatus, the Bruins finally swing back into action with their second straight game against the Maple Leafs. Toronto visits the TD Garden for the second time in less than a week as Boston looks to knock off Phil Kessel and his new squad and jump back into first place in the Northeast Division.

While the Bruins have had some "boring" time off, in the words of David Krejci, the Leafs haven't had the same luxury, playing two more games since leaving Boston on Saturday night. On Monday, they bounced back from their 7-2 loss to the Bruins with a 5-2 win over once-thriving Atlanta, and on Wednesday they edged the Islanders 3-2 at the Air Canada Centre.

Will the Bruins come out rested, or will they fall flat after a long layoff? Will Kessel redeem himself after a rough Saturday night in Boston? Is two in a row too much to hope for?

When And Where

Thursday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.

Records

Bruins (15-9-5, 35 points, second place in Northeast Division, fifth place in Eastern Conference)
Maple Leafs (10-13-7, 27 points, fifth in the Northeast Division, 14th in Eastern Conference)

Head to Head

The Bruins are 1-0-0 against the Maple Leafs this season after laying a beating on them on Saturday in KesselMania I. Center Marc Savard notched a hat trick for the B's, while Patrice Bergeron earned two assists and goaltender Tuukka Rask made 31 saves. It was a big rebound game for Boston, which returned home after taking a 5-1 beating from the Canadiens at the Bell Centre the previous night.

In 16:28 of ice time, Kessel, making his first trip back to Boston since being traded prior to the start of the season, registered just two shots on goal and a minus-3 rating.

After Thursday's game, the Bruins face the Leafs four more times: on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Air Canada Centre; Thursday, March 4, in Boston; and Tuesday, March 9, and Saturday, April 3, in Toronto.

Skinny

Whatever head coach Claude Julien said to his troops in order to motivate them for Saturday's game certainly worked — and the job wasn't an easy one. The Bruins took the ice in Boston less than 24 hours after being embarrassed in Montreal during the finale of the Canadiens' centennial celebration. The B's had to find a way to fire themselves up for their first meeting with their ex-leading goal scorer.

As Boston's 7-2 win proved, Julien said something right.

"Claude's pregame speech [on Saturday] was probably one of the best I have ever heard, actually," Marc Savard told The Boston Globe. "It really fired us up early. It was special. So I think the guys have reacted and gave it a good 60-minute effort."

That 60-minute effort has proven elusive for the Bruins for much of this season, and it could be a challenge for them to come out swinging on Thursday after being out of action for four days. On top of that, Boston may have to do it without two of its biggest defensive assets.

Dennis Wideman hasn't skated since the second period of Saturday's game and, according to the Globe, is questionable for Thursday. Derek Morris also skated Wednesday for the first time since Saturday. He should be good to go after missing two practices for maintenance.

"[I feel] pretty good — just getting old. Old age," Morris told the Globe.

The Bruins will have plenty to play for on Thursday. It's just a matter of avoiding that dreaded slow start and getting back into the groove sooner rather than later.

Projected Lineups

Bruins
Forwards
Blake Wheeler–Marc Savard–Byron Bitz
Marco Sturm–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Vladimir Sobotka–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton–Steve Begin–Daniel Paille

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Andrew Ference–Dennis Wideman**
Mark Stuart–Johnny Boychuk***

**Wideman was listed as questionable after Wednesday's practice but could play.
***Matt Hunwick was a healthy scratch for Saturday's game but could play if Wideman is out. If not, Hunwick will likely be a healthy scratch again.

Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Maple Leafs
Forwards
Alexei Ponikarovsky–Matt Stajan–Phil Kessel
Jason Blake–Mikhail Grabovski–Niklas Hagman
Nikolai Kulemin–Wayne Primeau–Lee Stempniak
Christian Hanson–Jamal Mayers–Colton Orr

Defense
Tomas Kaberle–Mike Komisarek
Francois Beauchemin–Jeff Finger
Ian White–Luke Schenn

Goalies
Vesa Toskala
Joey MacDonald

Goaltender Matchup

Bruins  
Tim Thomas is 7-7-3 with a 2.48 GAA and .914 save percentage.

Tuukka Rask is 8-2-2 with a 1.97 GAA and .932 save percentage.

Maple Leafs
Vesa Toskala is 3-4-2 with a 3.89 GAA and .863 save percentage.

Joey MacDonald is 1-4-0 with a 3.20 GAA and .892 save percentage

Stat Sheet

Bruins
Defenseman  Johnny Boychuk scored his first NHL goal with 7:34 left in the third period of Saturday's game.

In his last 14 games, Mark Recchi has posted three goals and eight assists for 11 points.

The Bruins' penalty kill currently ranks second in the league with an 86.1 percent success rate. Boston has killed off 70 of 75 power plays for a 93.3 percent success rate since Oct. 20.

Marco Sturm currently leads the B's with nine goals. His plus-8 rating is also tops among all Bruins.

Patrice Bergeron's eight goals are second on the team. He leads all Bruins with 23 points.

Defenseman Zdeno Chara leads Boston with 16 assists.

Maple Leafs
Toronto has won six of its last eight games, the only losses in that span coming at the hands of the Bruins and Sabres.

Though Toronto began the season with seven straight losses, it is 7-2-2 in its last 11 contests.

Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala made 30 saves in Wednesday's 3-2 win over the Islanders.

Defenseman Tomas Kaberle leads the Leafs with 28 points. He has 26 assists and just two goals.

Left winger Niklas Hagman leads the team with 14 goals and is currently riding a three-game point streak after notching an assist on Wednesday.

In 17 games with the Maple Leafs, former Bruin Phil Kessel has 10 goals and six assists for 16 points with a plus-3 rating.

Jason Blake scored the decisive goal with less than five minutes left in Wednesday's win over the Islanders. It was his fifth of the season.

Black and Blue

Bruins
Milan Lucic is still recovering from a sprained left ankle and will miss most of the month.

Dennis Wideman skated after Wednesday's practice for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury in the second period of Saturday's game. He is listed as questionable for Thursday.

Maple Leafs
Jonas Gustavsson is recovering from his second heart procedure in three months. He is hopeful he can return to the ice soon.

Tim Brent is likely out until April after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in the preseason.

Mike Van Ryn is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery.

This Date in Bruins History

On Dec. 10, 1970, Johnny Bucyk tallies two goals and four assists for six points in his 1,000th NHL game, an 8-2 win over Buffalo.

Overheard

"I told [NESN's] Naoko Funayama I was going to do the full David Ortiz."
–Defenseman Johnny Boychuk, on ESPN.com, on what he planned to do to celebrate his first NHL goal

Press Box

Bruins
The Jacobs family is in the Christmas spirit, agreeing to purchase and donate 200 tickets to the 2010 Winter Classic game between Boston and Philadelphia.

NESN's Kathryn Tappen thinks the Bruins are paying the price with this winter's wacky schedule.

NHL.com's John Bishop kept track of the Bruins' final tune-up before Thursday's game.

Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs earned a much-needed win at home before packing up for Boston.

Toronto was blown away by Marc Savard's hat trick on Saturday.

Jonas Gustavsson is feeling strong after his latest heart procedure.

NHL
The NHL Network plans to pay tribute to Alex Ovechkin's greatest goals.

Flyers goalie Ray Emery will miss about six weeks with a torn abdominal muscle.

Phoenix's Ed Jovanovski will be suspended two games for a hit on Minnesota's Andrew Ebbett.

Outlook

The No. 1 goal for the Bruins on Thursday will be avoiding the kind of slow, sloppy start that has gotten them in trouble in recent history (see: Friday versus Montreal). They must come out fired up against a Toronto team that has seen plenty of action since falling flat in a big way against Boston on Saturday.

The No. 2 goal for the Bruins — and the more fun goal — will be trying to stick it to Phil Kessel for the second straight game. Earlier this season, when Boston couldn't score a goal to save its life, fans dreamed of seeing Kessel return to Boston wearing Black and Gold. After Saturday's game, fans realized another dream: seeing Boston prove it'll be just fine without him and his 30 goals per season.

The first goal is a necessity. The second will just be icing on the cake.