Bruins attempt to claim berth in post-season(Take 2)

Mar 27, 2013; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center

(19) is congratulated by center

(63) and center

(37) after a goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins(26-10-4) have headed out to the PNC Center to take on and hopefully take out the Carolina Hurricanes(16-21-2). This is the third and last match up between these two teams. The Bruins are 2-0 for the season against the struggling ‘Canes, and we can only hope we see a repeat of the 6-2 game we saw last Monday. (Carolina has gone 0-7-0 in April, and have lost any chance of seeing the post-season.)

The Bruins will still be with out Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Marchand is still listed as ‘out indefinitely’ due to the concussion he sustained from the hit from Anton Volchenkov on April 10th. (Volchenkov did at least get a four game suspension for that shot.) There is no timetable for his return, but it is hoped he’ll be back by the end of the season. Bergeron is also suffering from a concussion, but has skated with the team in practice for the second straight day, and has made the trip out with the rest of the squad. Even though Bergeron’s healing seems to be ahead of schedule, the Bruins are taking no chances with #37, who has lost over a hundred games in his nine year career to concussions and related symptoms.

Dougie Hamilton, who was a healthy scratch for the team in their 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders should be back in the line up though. “We’re getting near the end of our schedule and I think it’s important for [Hamilton] to get some rest,” said coach Claude Julien.  “So it was strictly about that . . . [He’s] been a good player, and that’s why we haven’t taken him out of the lineup. He’s been that good and we’ve kind of stretched it out as long as we can. I didn’t want to wait until the last game or the last two games. It’s a chance for him to [rest]. Plus it was a great opportunity for him to watch from up top, and he sat with (assistant coach) Doug Jarvis and talked about the game as it went along.”

Now the Bruins will get into the post-season with any kind of point generated tonight OR by a loss of the Winnipeg Jets. I’m sure the Bruins will want to push hard and get that point themselves. Carolina is now 14th in the division, leading last place Florida by only two points. It should be another high scoring game for the Bruins (Then again, we expected to get two easy points out of the Islanders and they served that crow back up to us on blue and orange plates.) Puck drop is at 7:05, and will be available to be watched on NESN.

For those of you who live outside the New England Area, and have a smartphone or other Wi-Fi device, you can head over to the iTunes store, where you can get the CBS Local app for free. Once you download it, you can set the city of choice to Boston, and follow all the prompts that will lead you to 98.5 the Sports Hub where you can listen to the game. (It’s what I do when I’m stuck at work.)