Under Claude Julien, the Bruins have become the Wicked Wild of the East: cruel, meticulous and offense choking. I've watched them a bit this year and they'll often send one guy in to forecheck (he wont pass the top of the circles) and then line-up 4 guys, foose-ball-like, on their side of the red-line. Coming from behind on this club would be like wrestling a bear in a phone booth.
Boston is riding a two-game shut-out streak, with Tim Thomas being the current SV% leader in the NHL as a result (.943%). Even though he put up good numbers last year (despite being a fairly unorthodox 'tender) that save rate is obviously unsustainable. Of course, when it comes to bubbles and their inevitable bursting, there's no guarantee that the pin will be applied tonight. Still -- the Bruins are due to give a up a boatload sooner or later (trap or no trap). Maybe it'll be tonight.
On the Flames side, not sure how the lines will work out, although it wouldn't surprise me to see Conroy start out on the third unit with Boyd back among the top 6. If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?
Course, it'll all depend on how Keenan wants to match things up. Boston actually has some decent weaponry in Savard (who has turned into quite the player the last few years), Bergeron, Sturm, Kessel (looks like he's turned the corner) and the much celebrated behemoth Milan Lucic. I would assume one of Conroy or Iginla will see Savard with everything else falling into place from there. Jarome will also have to tussle with Zdeno Chara tonight who is just a fierce, fierce presence to play against. Iginla still isn't in top form, but it's something Im interested to see anyways, mainly because these guys don't see each other too often.
Prediction - Flames 3, Bruins 2. Boyd and Cammalleri (2) for Calgary, Ference and Yelle (!) for Boston.
Go Flames!
Boston Perspectives here and here.
