Boston Bruins: Bruins will try to silence Columbus’ cannon.
Dec 23, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing
Brad Marchand(63) is surrounded by defenseman
Zdeno Chara(33) and Boston Bruins center
Patrice Bergeron(37) after scoring a goal against the Nashville Predators during the first period at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins will be heading into Ohio to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. In a way, these teams are kindred spirits. They’ve both been hit hard by the injury bug throughout the season. They both stand in comparable spots in their respective divisions. The Bruins are fifth in the Atlantic, and the Blue Jackets are sixth in the Metropolitan. They have the exact same percentage on the penalty kill (79.8%), and they both know how amazing of a player Nathan Horton is.
Both teams have a healthy respect for each other, and its hard to find Bruins fans who have bad things to say about the Blue Jackets (and vice versa). Somedays, I think the Blue Jackets are nicer to the Bruins than their own fans are. Here’s something from the Blue Jackets home page. It goes to show the deep respect those crazy cannon shooters in Ohio have for the Bears of Boston.
“A lot of credit must go to coach Claude Julien, who is one of the NHL’s most accomplished active coaches and has played a big role in forging the Boston identity. The Bruins are big, they’re sound defensively and they have one of the game’s best between the pipes in Tuukka Rask, who has gotten a few more nights off this year with backup Niklas Svedberg proving capable of stepping in and doing the job.”
At the moment, the Bruins offense hasn’t been too stellar. The B’s average 2.54 goals a game. That puts them twenty-first in the league. The Bruins did show a lot more offensive skill when they tallied a combined nine goals in wins over Buffalo on Sunday and Nashville on Tuesday. The Bruins know where they’ve been, and where they need to go. ”We know that we have to be better,” said Brad Marchand just before the Bruins broke for Christmas break. “It just seemed like every time you made a mistake, it ended up in our net and we couldn’t score. The last couple of games we’ve showed some character.”
The Bruins have finally been able to field a healthy roster and it showing on the scoreboard. Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson each scored twice in the win over the Predators, and the ‘Little Ball of Hate’ became the B’s first double digit goal scorer. Eriksson has also had a hot hand as of late, He’s had three multiple point nights in his last four games. (They’re currently the top two scorers for the Black and Gold.) David Krejci was showing off some of his old brilliance after missing over half the season with a groin injury.
The last time they played, it took a shootout to resolve the game. (Alexander Khokhlachev won in for Boston in the seventh round.) The Bruins have a healthier team than they did last time, and the Bruins are the better team on paper. Now it’s time for the Bruins to repeat that success and up their win streak to three.