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Causeway gameday! Boston Bruins hope to Ride the Lightning

By Chad Zimmermann

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 04: Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) makes a left pad save on Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) during a regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 4, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Lightning 4-0. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 04: Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) makes a left pad save on Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) during a regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 4, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Lightning 4-0. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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My interests in this world are very few.  They include Boston Bruins hockey and metal music.  Hence why this title worked out so well for me.  If you get it, we can be friends.

They say all good things must come to an end.  That’s what happened to the Boston Bruins on Sunday, when their season-high four game win streak was snapped by the Edmonton Oilers.  Not exactly the punctuation mark fans wanted to see on the best week in Bruins hockey this season.

Boston Bruins
BOSTON, MA – NOVEMBER 26: Edmonton Oilers left wing Milan Lucic (27) moved away from Boston Bruins right defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) by linesman Ryan Galloway (82) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers on November 26, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Oilers defeated the Bruins 4-2. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Don’t get me wrong, a four-game win streak is awesome.  This is especially true given how inconsistent the team has been since the outset of the season.  But for the loss to come to a team that, similar to the Bruins, hasn’t quite found their identity…that stings a bit.  That being said, Edmonton is still a good team, so it’s not like they lost to Arizona.

All the team can do is look forward, and start a new winning streak.  That’s going to be incredibly tough tonight, because the Bruins are set to take on the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

Schedule

Tonight’s game will be taking place at 7:30 pm at the TD Garden in Boston, MA.  The game is being featured as the Wednesday Night Rivalry game on NBC Sports Network.  Unfortunately, that likely means I will be yelling, “SHUT UP, PIERRE” at my TV numerous times tonight.  Radio broadcast will be on 98.5 The Sports Hub.

What to watch for

The Bruins once again find themselves shorthanded, roster-wise.  It has been announced that both David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk will not be playing in tonight’s game, due to injuries suffered in Sunday’s loss.  Marchand and Backes are close to returning, but may not suit up for tonight’s game.  So, that would be 4 of the Bruins top-6 forwards, out of the lineup.

Still no word on who will be starting in net.  Another Boston Bruins blog thinks it would be best to start Tuukka Rask tonight to get his confidence back.  I agree in theory, but not in execution.  The Bruins should start Anton Khudobin tonight to ride the hot hand and try to get points against Tampa Bay, a divisional opponent.

Then, you start Rask on Saturday against Philadelphia, a team that is really struggling.  Use that as a springboard game for Rask, because there are other games coming up for Rask to get momentum back (Arizona, etc.).  Rask wasn’t the worst player on the ice on Sunday, but he still took the loss to a struggling team.

Next: Boston Bruins 12 Days of Christmas

The duo of Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos has been absolutely on fire this season.  The pair are currently ranked #1 and #2 in the league in points.  If a team wants any success in a game against Tampa Bay, you have to shut down 86 and 91.  For example:  Tampa Bay has 5 regulation losses this season.  In those 5 losses, Stamkos has been held off the scoresheet in 4 of them, and Kucherov, in 3 of them.

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