Boston Bruins Weekly Predictions: New Faces
By Jay Peterson
Boston Bruins Weekly Predictions: New Faces
With a new month of hockey beginning, the Boston Bruins, along with all the other NHL teams, will have an opportunity to see what their new additions can do for their club. While getting accustomed to the new system and teammates takes time, Lee Stempniak and John-Michael Liles will need to provide immediate positive impact if there is to be any hope of the Boston Bruins maintaining their hold on a playoff position outside of the Wild Card slots.
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The Bruins have a good team and the fact that both Liles and Stempniak have had respectable seasons does not exclude them from getting less ice time or crucial roles if their play is not where Claude Julien and company expect it to be. The players will waste no time in proving their worth to their new squad as Boston plays Calgary the day after the trade deadline. This will be followed by games with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals, arguably the two best teams in the NHL.
Bruins v Flames
This game is a must win for the Boston Bruins mostly because the next two games they play will most likely not result in wins. Look for Jonas Gustavsson to get the start as Tuukka Rask has played a lot lately and will need to be sharp in the upcoming games after this one. Calgary has gotten thinner since the deadline, letting Jiri Hudler and Kris Russell go. They should not pose too much of a problem for the Bruins who look to rebound after their loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. I see Boston taking this game 3 to 1.
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Bruins v Blackhawks
It has been a while since the Stanley Cup Finals of 2013, but the Chicago Blackhawks look just as good as they did back then. The team is focused on putting together a dynasty of Cup wins and there aren’t very many teams in the league who are capable of getting in their way. The Boston Bruins will bring the level of competition appropriate for such a matchup, but it will not be enough as Chicago will score early and hold the lead in a 4 to 2 victory.
Bruins v Capitals
As said above, the Boston Bruins will put their best foot forward against the Chicago Blackhawks. Playing a team that good will only help the Bruins going into this next game against the Washington Capitals. Hopefully that level of play will be enough to keep the Bruins in this game, but something tells me that the Boston players will be exhausted at this point from the brutal schedule that they have had to endure.
I am hoping to see the new acquisitions get lots of playing time in this game in order to give the other players some much needed rest. While a character win is in the cards for Boston, I just don’t see it happening against this Capitals team. Rask will go save for save against Braden Holtby, but Washington will have too many good chances throughout the game that Rask will eventually let enough goals in to seal the deal. The score will show 3 to 2 at the end of the third period.
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With the additions to the team, I do believe that the Boston Bruins are going to be one of the better teams entering the playoffs, on behalf of the Eastern Conference. However, it is unfortunate that they will be playing such difficult teams this week which will not show the fans how good this team can really be. Eventually, we will see a team that we can be confident in, but not this week.
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