It is officially time to get down to business. Tonight’s game at TD Garden marks the beginning of the second half of the Bruins and NHL season. This is the time of year where games get a little more ramped up and teams begin jockeying for playoff positions.
The B’s come into the second half leading the Northeast Division with 64 points. Although the lead is only four points over Ottawa, they do have five games in hand on the Sens and have not lost to them in the their two meetings this season, outscoring them 10-5.
In the seven games leading-up to the break, the Bruins were only 3-2-1 and were outscored 25-23.
So what do the B’s need to do in order to secure another division title and a spot in the 2012 post season. Eleven of the Bruins final thirty-five games are against division opponents. If the Bruins can go 7-2-1 or something along those lines in those games they should be in a good spot.
Also, a good start out of the gate will help the B’s. They play four games in six days right out of the shoot, along with a six game road trip in the middle of February and the schedule wraps up with 17 games in March alone and four weekends with games on Saturday and Sunday.
Things to consider — Who will emerge as the number one goalie for the Bruins. Obviously it is Tim Thomas’ job to lose after last season playoff run. But Tuukka have been off the charts since November and with Thomas struggling over his past few starts things could become interesting if Thomas still has some shaky play in mid-March.
The health of Nathan Horton, he missed the final game before the break with a mild concussion. After a week of it seems he will not be part of tonight’s contest, which begs the question when he does return how effective will he really be.
Finally, what will the B’s do at the deadline. They have until the end of February to make a move. Do they go offense or defense? And when will they make their move. Last year they acquired Kaberle a few weeks before the deadline and pulled off the trade for Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley on the day of the deadline.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Zach Hamill
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Steven Kampfer-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Andrew Ference (suspension), Nathan Horton (concussion)
Projected Senators lines
Forwards
Milan Michalek-Jason Spezza-Colin Greening
Nick Foligno-Kyle Turris-Daniel Alfredsson
Erik Condra-Zack Smith-Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins-Zenon Konopka-Bobby Butler
Defense
Filip Kuba-Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen-Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips-Matt Carkner
Goalies
Craig Anderson
Alex Auld
Scratches: Brian Lee (lower body)
