Jan 20, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars center
Cody Eakin(20) and Boston Bruins center
Patrice Bergeron(37) fight for the puck during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight marks the final meeting of the regular season for the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars. While the Bruins hosted former fan favorite Johnny Boychuk earlier this week, it seems as though despite travelling with the team, Tyler Seguin could potentially be watching from the balcony. Earlier today as the Dallas Stars took the TD Garden ice for practice with Seguin leaving early to go back to the hotel. It seems as though the star forward is battling a round with the flu along with a couple other team members.
Puck Prose
“We’ve got three guys fighting the flu, and Tyler’s one of them,” Lindy Ruff told CSNNE. “We’ve got a couple other guys that skated that are fighting it, even our play-by-play guy is down and out.”
Ruff also stated that while he is ‘hopeful’ Seguin will be able to play that he has a back up plan in which Jamie Benn can slide over and play center should the NHL’s top points leader be too sick to participate. Currently Seguin is tied with Jakub Voracek and Patrick Kane for the NHL lead with 59 points, and is third in the NHL with 29 goals on the season for Dallas.
The Stars are coming off of a 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Rangers Sunday, while the Boston Bruins will be looking for redemption after being swept by the Canadiens. While Dallas may be a team that is fading from the playoff picture and fast, the Bruins can’t let that define how they play tonight’s game.
More from Bruins News
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
- The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci
The Boston Bruins need to bring back their consistency they had before the All-Star break and one way to do that is to put the lines back to the way they were which Claude Julien did at practice this morning. However, he did change things up a little, placing Niklas Svedberg between the pipes for tonight over Tuukka Rask. The move doesn’t come as a big surprise, given that Svedberg hasn’t played since January 8 and Rask needs as much rest as he can get between now and the playoffs. Over the weekend while he was on a conditioning stint with the Providence Bruins he went 3-1-0 with a 2.76 GAA and a .911 save percentage in four games.
If the Bruins hope to turn things around they have to amp up their physicality and emotion. In Sunday’s game against the Canadiens they showed little gumption in wanting to win and in the end tanked. Granted they were on the rear of back-to-back games, but playing half-gassed is something they’re going to have to get used to doing if they plan on excelling in the playoffs. They need to bear down and play through whatever comes their way, including being gassed.