Bruins Looking to Bounce Back by Cooling Off Red-Hot Thrashers

The Bruins will continue their tour of the Southeast Division as they go back on the road for a late afternoon showdown with old friend Craig Ramsay and the Thrashers in Atlanta on Sunday.

It's the first meeting of the year between the Bruins and their old assistant since Ramsay was hired as Atlanta's head coach this summer. It's the first time Boston will take on the Thrashers this year, but the Bruins have become well acquainted with the Southeast, as this will be their fourth straight game against a Southeast foe.

Where that once might have been a welcome respite, the Southeast Division is no longer full of pushover teams, with Tampa Bay and Atlanta in particular making rapid improvements in the past year.

"It is odd when you look at the schedule," said Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick. "It's not like the Southeast Division of old though. These teams are pretty good right now, led by Washington. And we obviously saw Tampa and they're a much different team than last year. I think the division as a whole has gotten a lot tougher. There's no easy games anymore."

Beating Atlanta won't be easy either, as the Thrashers have won four straight games by a combined score of 15-2. They're doing it in familiar fashion too, as Ramsay has brought much of what he learned in Boston to the Thrashers.

"I think they're bringing a lot of what we're all about," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "I know that Craig has gone there and from what I could see from watching their games, he hasn't changed much from what we're doing here. Right now they're a team that's emotionally engaged and they're working hard. And I can't say it enough, their system is almost identical to ours as far as what they do. They're winning their battles, they're winning their races and the little things that make a difference are there for them right now."

When and Where

Boston Bruins (12-7-2, 26 points) at Atlanta Thrashers (11-9-3, 25 points)
Nov. 28, 5 p.m. (NESN)
Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia

Head to Head

This is the first of four meetings this season between the Bruins and Thrashers. The Bruins swept last year's four game series and have won 10 straight overall against Atlanta. Boston leads the all-time series 24-11-2-3, including a 12-7-0-1 mark in Atlanta.

Goaltending Matchup

Tim Thomas fell to 11-2-1 after giving up three goals to Carolina on Friday, but still leads the league with a .951 save percentage and four shutouts, while his 1.56 GAA is second in the NHL. He is just 5-3-1 with a 3.16 GAA and an .895 save percentage against Atlanta. Tuukka Rask is just 1-5-1 despite a 2.36 GAA and a .935 save percentage, but he is 3-0-0 with an 0.97 GAA, a .963 save percentage and two shutouts against the Thrashers, with all three appearances coming last year.

For Atlanta, Ondrej Pavelec overcame a scary start when he collapsed in the season opener to take over as the undisputed No. 1 netminder for the Thrashers. He's started 11 straight games and is 5-4-2 with a 1.68 GAA, .946 save percentage and two shutouts. He hasn't had much success against the Bruins though, as he is 0-1-1 with a 6.56 GAA and .815 save percentage, and has been pulled in the first period three times in four starts against Boston. Chris Mason is 6-5-1 with a 3.90 GAA and .897 save percentage this season, but has been relegated to backup status by Pavelec's hot streak.

Stat Sheet

Bruins

• Milan Lucic has no goals, just one assist and is a minus-2 in four games since his hat trick against Florida. He might be able to get back on track against Atlanta though, as he has 6-5-11 totals and is a plus-9 in 10 career games against the Thrashers. That includes his only other hat trick, which he collected on Oct. 25, 2008 against Atlanta.
• The Bruins' 10-game winning streak against Atlanta includes season sweeps the last two years. Last year they outscored Atlanta 18-7, with a pair of 4-0 shutouts. They outscored the Thrashers 18-10 the year before, winning all four games even with Manny Fernandez starting three of them. Atlanta's last win against Boston was back on Dec. 29, 2007, when the Thrashers won 5-0 at home.
• The NHL's unbalanced schedule has teams playing more games within their own division. Judging from the first quarter of the season, the league must think Boston has been relocated to the Southeast. With Sunday's clash in Atlanta, the Bruins will have played eight of their first 22 games against Southeast Division teams, and just five games against teams in the Northeast Division. And Boston also plays Tampa Bay again on Thursday before returning to divisional play Saturday at Toronto.

Thrashers
 

• Defenseman Brent Sopel, one of four players from last year's Cup-winning squad in Chicago now with Atlanta, is tied for fifth in the NHL with 55 blocked shots in 22 games. Bruins blueliner Dennis Seidenberg, who led the NHL with 215 blocked shots last year, is just one behind Sopel with 54 in 21 games.
• Two other Chicago imports are having a big impact in Atlanta. Andrew Ladd leads the Thrashers with 8-16-24 totals, including 1-5-6 over Atlanta's current four-game win streak. Dustin Byfuglien, meanwhile, has taken well to his conversion back to defense, and leads all NHL blueliners with eight goals and his third among defensemen with 21 points. Byfuglien has 3-2-5 totals in the last four games.
• Atlanta has the third-ranked power play in the NHL, converting at 24.5 percent (23-94). That's not good news for a Bruins penalty kill that allowed three power-play goals on three chances to Carolina on Friday.

Infirmary Report

Bruins

• Center Marc Savard (post-concussion syndrome) was cleared for contact in practice on Tuesday and hopes to return sometime in December.
• Left wing Marco Sturm (knee surgery) is expected to be out until at least December.
• Center Trent Whitfield (ruptures Achilles) could miss the entire year.
• Forward Jordan Caron (flu) missed Friday's game and did not travel with the team on Saturday and is doubtful for this game.
• Center David Krejci (flu) did not travel with the team on Saturday and is doubtful for this game.

Thrashers

• Center Patrice Cormier (broken right foot) is on injured reserve.
• Forward Fredrik Modin (ribs) has missed the last six games and is out indefinitely.

Familiar Faces

Ramsay is the most familiar face to Bruins fans as he spent the last three seasons behind the Boston bench as one of Julien's assistants. The Thrashers' blue line has plenty of local flavor, with defensemen Ron Hainsey (Bolton, Conn./UMass-Lowell) and Freddy Meyer (Sanbornville, N.H./Boston University), as well as Zach Bogosian, who played a season at Cushing Academy before heading to the OHL. Bruins forwards Savard and Mark Recchi each played for Atlanta.

Fight Card

The Thrashers have just seven fighting majors this season, but they do have some toughness in the form of Eric Boulton, Chris Thorburn and Ben Eager, who each have two fights. Bogosian had the other fight Friday against Montreal's P.K. Subban. The Bruins have 19 fighting majors in 21 games, but are currently in a season-high four-game fighting drought. Shawn Thornton, Mark Stuart, Greg Campbell and Adam McQuaid lead the club with three fights each and Lucic has two. Last year's series produced just one fight, a heavyweight affair between Thornton and Boulton.

Outlook

The Bruins have just one win in their last four games and have struggled with slow starts of late, as even their lone win in that stretch required a third-period rally in Florida on Wednesday. The Thrashers, meanwhile, are red hot with four straight wins and will be looking to close out a six-game homestand in style. This one will have a little extra incentive for both coaches, for while Julien and Ramsay remain friends, the former colleagues will certain want to win the bragging rights in their first clash as opposing head coaches.