On Sunday, the Boston Bruins were shutout by a Minnesota Wild team that the St. Louis Blues held to just 13 shots in their last meeting -- an (obvious) Blues win. Is there any connection between the two as the B's take their listless act to the Scottrade Center to face the red-hot Blues?
God, the Bruins hope not.
Stoned on all 48 shots thrown at Wild goaltender
Niklas Backstrom, the most he's ever faced in a shutout throughout his NHL career, the frustration of a Boston club that's dropped six of their last nine was crystal clear following an ax-chop to the ice by
Milan Lucic following Backstrom's biggest stop of the afternoon affair.
Victimizing
Tim Thomas to his 12th loss of the season despite stopping 27 of 29 shots faced, the Bruins will be led tonight by the 37-year-old for the second straight contest. In three career games against the Blues, Thomas is 0-1-2 with a .904 save-percentage, but comes into tonight's match-up with a 2.15 goals against average on the road this year.
He'll be opposed by the story of the NHL season,
Brian Elliott.
A winner in five of his last six starts -- a 24-save loss against Chicago in his last start the lone blemish in the month of Feb. -- the 26-year-old Elliott comes into play with a bundle of experience when it comes to playing the Black-and-Gold. But none of its really any good. In 10 career starts against Boston, all coming during Elliot's tenure as a Senator, he boasts just three wins with a 2.86 goals against average.
Just which Elliott shows up tonight? The one that the Bruins have ripped apart time and time again or the one that's lost just eight games in 27 starts this year? If the Bruins' offense gives us any indication, I'd have to lean towards the latter.
Game-Changers
As the Bruins continue to search for offensive contributions from anybody outside of the Bergeron line,
Chris Kelly returns to centering Boston's first line tonight. Featuring
Milan Lucic on the wing and now with
David Krejci playing right-wing, the steady two-way center comes into play without a goal in his last 13 games, but should get plenty of looks tonight given the skill-set of the wingers around him. Plus, given Kelly and Elliott's connection through their Ottawa days, you'd have to think that Kelly's got a feel for Elliott's tendencies, no?
For St. Louis, former Bruins forward
Vladimir Sobotka gets his crack on the Blues' top-line. Scoring three goals and adding 14 assists in 50 games this year, the scrappy center has 10 goals and 36 points in 115 games since being traded out of Boston, but comes into play with one goal in his only game against the Black-and-Gold. St. Louis is 11-4-0 this year when Sobotka has a point.
Stats of Note
- Boston's 9-0-0 this year when
Benoit Pouliot scores. The problem? He's only scored nine times.
-
Joe Corvo enters play with three goals and five points in 15 career games against the Blues.
- B's winger
Tyler Seguin has just one goal and two assists in his last ten games with a minus-5 rating.
- Hey, this guy's a defensemen: St. Louis'
Alex Pietrangelo has tallied eight points in the last five games.
- With one goal in the past 17 games, to say that power-forward
Chris Stewart is in a slump is an understatement.
-
David Perron has a goal and two assists in four career games against Boston.
News and Notes
Given Kelly's jump to the top line, expect
Carter Camper to make his National Hockey League debut tonight. Called up on Monday, Camper's scored 14 goals and tallied 24 assists in 53 games for the Providence Bruins this year, and is slated to center Boston's third line.
On a sour note, the B's will potentially be without
Shawn Thornton for tonight's contest. Thornton is one of just a handful of Bruins skaters to suit up for all 57 games this year. Reeling from the flu, if Thornton's unable to go, expect
Josh Hennessy to be in the lineup. Suiting up in the last two games, the 27-year-old Massachusetts native has averaged 13.5 shifts a game along with 7:57 of time-on-ice with the Big B's. Sounds fourth-line-esque to me.
Wingers
Matt D'Agostini and
Alex Steen are both out indefinitely with a concussion, while
Jaroslav Halak will get the night off after missing both games this past weekend with a flu.
Follow me on Twitter, shoot me an email at [email protected], or become Facebook friends with the HockeyBuzz Bruins profile for links, interactions, and updates.
*********
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Bruins Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Bruins related on HockeyBuzz. For more information,
click here.