With a seven-game road trip on the horizon, there is no better time to turn over a new Leaf than against former Bruin Phil Kessel and the Maple Leafs as the Bruins welcome their divisional rivals to the TD Garden.
WHEN AND WHERE
Thursday, March 4, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
RECORDS
Bruins (27-23-11, 65 points, fourth place in Northeast Division, eighth place in Eastern Conference)
Maple Leafs (19-32-11, 49 points, last in Northeast Division, last in Eastern Conference)
HEAD TO HEAD
The Bruins are 2-1-0 against their Northeast Division rivals this season. This is their last home game against Toronto this season. The two clubs will meet again twice at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on March 9 and April 3.
The Bruins lead the lifetime series 272-252-98-5.
SKINNY
The Bruins once again showed a lack of energy Tuesday in their 4-1 loss to Montreal. True, they were coming off a long Olympic break but so were the Canadiens, and this has been a season-long problem for the Bruins. Head coach Claude Julien is hoping his team can find that fire and desire against the Maple Leafs.
"Somewhere along the way, we’ve got to find some energy," said Julien. "When I say 'energy,' whether it's the pressure, whether it's the expectations that have been put on us, there are a lot of things that right now are taking away probably our jump.
"I can stand here and tell you that before the game [Tuesday], our players really knew how important that game was and what it meant and everything else. But then, when you look at what happened on the ice, it's hard to think that they were that ready. We've got to somehow get some energy and get some fire in our belly and get excited about playing more than letting us get weighed down by the pressure that's on us."
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Bruins
Forwards
Daniel Paille-Marc Savard–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Marco Sturm–Vladimir Sobotka/Patrice Bergeron-Miroslav Satan
Milan Lucuc–Steve Begin–Shawn Thornton
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara- Dennis Seidenberg
Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick/Mark Stuart
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
Maple Leafs
Forwards
Viktor Stalberg–Tyler Bozak–Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin–Rickard Wallin–Fredrik Sjostrom
John Mitchell–Christian Hanson—Luca Caputi
Jamie Lundmark–Wayne Primeau–Colton Orr
Defensemen
Luke Schenn–Tomas Kaberle
Dion Phaneuf–Francois Beauchemin
Garnet Exelby–Carl Gunnarsson
Goaltenders
J.S. Giguere
Jonas Gustavsson
GOALTENDER MATCHUP
Bruins
Tuukka Rask is 14-8-4 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Rask has started the last seven games for the Bruins. He is 4-1-2 during that stretch. Rask is first in the NHL in GAA and fourth in save percentage. Rask has four shutouts
Tim Thomas is 13-15-7 with a 2.52 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Thomas has four shutouts and is winless (0-4-2) in his last six starts.
Maple Leafs
J.S. Giguere is 6-11-5 with a 2.99 GAA and .904 save percentage. He has three shutouts. Giguere is 2-3-0 since arriving in a trade from Anaheim on Jan. 31.
Jonas Gustavsson is 9-13-8 with a 3.07 GAA and .898 save percentage. His only shutout came against the Bruins on Dec. 19 when he made 25 saves in a 2-0 win.
STAT SHEET
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron leads the team with 37 points.
Zdeno Chara had an assist on Tuesday and is second on the team in points with 34 and leads the team with 29 assists. Chara has a goal and five assists in his last six games.
Marc Savard had an assist Tuesday and now has 23 helpers and 32 points this season. Savard has seven assists in his last six games.
Marco Sturm scored the Bruins lone goal Tuesday and now leads the team with 19 lamplighters.
New Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg has 21 assists and 23 points this season.
Maple Leafs
Tomas Kaberle leads the Toronto blue line and team in assists with 40 and points 46.
Former Bruin Phil Kessel leads the Leafs with 21 goals and has 41 points.
Dion Phaneuf has 24 points. He has two helpers since arriving in a trade January 31 from Calgary.
BLACK AND BLUE
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron announced Tuesday morning that he suffered a groin injury during the Olympics and is day-to-day.
Maple Leafs
Defenseman Mike Van Ryn (knee) is out for the year.
Defenseman Mike Komisarek had season-ending shoulder surgery last month.
Mikhail Grabovski (broken wrist) could return by Saturday's game in Ottawa after missing the last two months.
THIS DATE IN BRUINS HISTORY
On March 4, 1973, Jacques Plante (44 years old) shuts out Chicago 4-0 in his first game as a Bruin.
OVERHEARD
“Don't get me wrong, I see us struggling to score. I saw us struggle [against Montreal on Tuesday]. With the strength of our centermen and from what I saw in the eight, nine games prior to [Tuesday], I believe this team can improve in its scoring."
—GM Peter Chiarelli on his beliefs in the current Bruins roster.
PRESS BOX
Bruins
GM Peter Chiarelli is hoping new Bruin Dennis Seidenberg can add some energy and offense from the blue line.
Cole Wright believes keeping Tim Thomas instead of trading him at the deadline was the right move.
Derek Morris was sad to leave Boston.
Maple Leafs
Tomas Kaberle made it known he would waive his no-movement clause for the right trade, but in the end, he remained a Leaf. Toronto did however make multiple deals.
The Phil Kessel trade isn’t just haunting the Bruins.
Leafs GM Brian Burke is battling on with a heavy heart after losing his son Brendan in a car crash Feb. 5.
NHL
Here’s some good trade analysis from yesterday’s deadline madness.
Another good look back at the trade deadline with NESN.com’s Michael Hurley.
Some playoff contenders were surprisingly quiet yesterday.
OUTLOOK
It will be very interesting to see how the Bruins react after a lackluster effort in a 4-1 loss Tuesday and seeing dressing room favorite Derek Morris dealt away at the deadline on Wednesday. Dennis Seidenberg will be paired with Zdeno Chara and will have to fit right in, because the Bruins have no time to break anyone in right now. With a seven-game road trip on the horizon after this game, the Bruins need a win before they head out on the road, and on paper they should have no problem getting that win against this lowly Leafs club.
But the game isn’t played on paper and that’s why the Bruins need a 60-minute effort against Toronto and for the remainder of the season. They showed they’re capable of that in their pre-Olympics four-game win streak, so now there’s no more excuses. It sounds drastic but every game must be do-or-die from here on in.
