Mar 30, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman
Kurtis Foster(3) checks Boston Bruins left wing
Daniel Paille(20) in front of goalie
Ilya Bryzgalov(30) during the third period at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers defeated the Bruins, 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Well, we’re in the home stretch now. The Boston Bruins (until recently) have been playing sub-par(to the level we know they CAN play at) hockey and pulling out win after win. These last few weeks though, it seems to be the exact opposite. The Bruins have been playing better technical hockey but just not getting the lucky breaks they were getting early in this abridged season. So, even though the Black and Gold will be making their sixth straight run for the Cup, some of us are still a little worried.
Tonight the Bruins(27-12-5) are on the road against the recently eliminated Philadelphia Flyers (20-22-3). Even though the Bruins have locked up some position in the post-season, the drive to be as high as possible is present in the locker room. “We’re just trying to control the games that we can play, obviously we want to try and win as many as we can.” offered Merlot Man Daniel Paille. At present, the Bruins are once again in the position of being tied with their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins are technically atop the leaderboard due to having played one less game than Montreal. As always the rivalry is usually on the minds of the players.
“I think, if anything, it’s been a back and forth battle all year.” said Adam McQuaid (who is currently as ‘probable’ for tonight’s matchup)”It’s been a good one, and it’s one, at the end of the day that we’d like to win.” While the battle has been back and forth, the last two months have seen more of Montreal at the top than Boston. As the Canadiens are also playing tonight (against another eliminated team, the New Jersey Devils), this gives Boston an opportunity to take an important two point lead in the last yards of the sprint.
While it’s pretty sure that the Bruins will likely end up taking the second or fourth seed in the conference, who their opponent in the first round is not as clear. Four teams are within two points of each other for the bottom three slots. As the second seed, the Bruins are likely to face the New York Islanders(which I’d prefer) or the New York Rangers(which could be trouble). The way the games are going, we could even see us playing the Ottawa Senators, or maybe even (I’m surprised myself here) the Winnipeg Jets.
Below are the projected lines for tonight’s game at the Wells Fargo Center:
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Tyler Seguin (Good call coach, don’t mess with what works.)
Milan Lucic-David Krejci–Rich Peverley (Looks like Looch is out of the dog house for now. Partly due to Nathan Horton‘s injury.)
Chris Kelly–Carl Soderberg–Jaromir Jagr (Soderberg may center or wing at Coach Julien’s discretion)
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell–Shawn Thornton (Necessary evil. Both Campell and Paille have performed when they get bumped up.)
Zdeno Chara–Johnny Boychuk (Boychuk’s been blocking pucks like he’s the crease as of late, hoping for more solid D tonight.)
Matt Bartkowski–Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
The game will start at 7:30 tonight. It will be on NESN, and NBCSN. As always, it will be broadcasted on 98.5 The Sports Hub