Boston Bruins: The Red Wings have had our number this season

Somehow despite the Detroit Red Wings sitting dead-last, they seem to have the Boston Bruins’ number this season.

In our last encounter with them just a week ago, they stopped our six-game winning streak dead in its’ tracks with a 3-1 victory, while back in November, they took us down 4-2. All of this despite the Boston Bruins sitting 1st in the league and the Red Wings sitting 31st.

Perhaps this speaks to how luck plays a result in sports or perhaps it talks to the Boston Bruins maybe struggling to motivate themselves against such lowly opposition.

Last time out, it’s safe to say the Red Wings took the result primarily on the back of their goaltender, Jonathan Bernier. The former LA Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs goalie stopped 39 of the 40 shots on his net and single-handedly won his team the game in doing so.

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He was also between the pipes in their November win, though on that occasion only faced 28 shots, two of which got past. Knowing our luck, he’ll be the starting goalie today too.

You only need look at the NHL standings from a points percentage standpoint to realise the vast gulf between these two teams; the Boston Bruins have an overall points percentage of 0.707% which could literally be cut in half and still be above the Red Wings with their 0.271%.

Heading into this game, you’d imagine the Boston Bruins are carrying plenty of momentum; they had a big win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday in a game that actually had a hint of physicality and feistiness to it.

Not only that, David Pastrnak is riding high having grabbed a hat-trick to break a five-game goal scoring drought and will no doubt be looking to reassert himself as Auston Matthews has drawn level (with 41 goals) in the Maurice Richard Trophy scoring race.

The Red Wings meanwhile haven’t won since beating us last weekend, conceding 3 goals to the Buffalo Sabres in the week and 4 to the New Jersey Devils yesterday.

They head into this game likely feeling a bit dejected, though that’s nothing new these past few seasons. Whether the dejection proves the motivator to play a complete game against us or not is anyone’s guess.

It’s up to Boston to capitalise on tired legs and ensure that motivation dries up rapidly. A couple of early goals could perhaps put the nail in the coffin before the end of the first.

Third time lucky for the Bruins against the Red Wings this year; here’s hoping Bernier doesn’t prove our undoing again!