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This is probably the healthiest the 2014-15 Boston Bruins will be.
With
Zdeno Chara now four games into his return from a knee injury that kept him out of play for seven weeks, and with
David Krejci back from an undisclosed injury that’s forced in and out of the lineup to the tune of just 12 games played this season, the Black and Gold are near complete.
They’re still without defenseman
Adam McQuaid (broken finger), and forward
Simon Gagne is on an indefinite leave of absence to tend to his ailing father, but is it going to be much better than this? Probably not in terms of health as a 20-man unit, no. But in terms of playing, they sure hope so.
Stealing two points with an overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night, a game they had no business winning based on the straight-up assault they survived from the second period, a win over the Winnipeg Jets would send the Bruins back to Boston with five of a possible six points in their pockets.
The importance of that goes without saying, too.
The Bruins have been a bend-don’t-break team since the puck dropped on this season, it seems. It’s been a case of, “Well just wait until ____ comes back” or “Wait ‘til _____ happens.” 32 games into the season, just nine games away from the halfway marker, the Bruins have 35 points (one point out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference). Boston’s top goal-scorers -- Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith -- have eight goals. Just Patrice Bergeron and Carl Soderberg have more than 20 points this season. The B’s have looked like a shell of the 2013-14 team that stormed through the league’s 82-game with relative ease.
But the time for dwelling on the losses, or treading water, is over. This is, barring a deadline deal, the best the Black and Gold will be this year. If they’re more than the rather average club they’ve been for 30-plus games, it’s on the leaders in that room to... well... lead. And I think you’ve seen that in spurts, too.
Most importantly, though, I think Krejci’s return has an undeniable trickle-down effect on the rest of the lineup, and allows the other components of the Bruins’ forward corp to do what they do best.
Patrice Bergeron’s line looked more like the opportunistic, steady unit than the line that was trying to carry the weight of the hockey world on their shoulders.
Chris Kelly has transitioned to his role with Loui Eriksson and Soderberg on that third line, a line that accounted for two goals in Minnesota.
That three-line attack should have a field day against a Winnipeg team that’s without their entire top-four defensive unit and just added
Jay Harrison to address their depth issues back there.
The Masked Men: Tuukka Rask vs. Michael Hutchinson
Boston is expected to give the start to
Tuukka Rask. The 27-year-old had Wednesday night off, and took an overtime loss despite a stellar 38-of-40 night against the Nashville Predators, and comes into play with 12 wins and a .914 save percentage in 24 games started this year. Rask has nine wins, a .934 save percentage, and 1.90 goals against average in 13 career games against Atlanta/Winnipeg. Rask stopped 35-of-36 shots against in the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Jets back on Nov. 28.
The Jets will counter with
Michael Hutchinson. A former third-round pick of the Bruins that spent three years with the Boston Bruins organization between Providence (AHL) and the Reading Royals of the ECHL, the 6-foot-3 Hutchinson has carved out a budding career for himself up in the ‘Peg. Building off last year’s strong three-game sample with the big league, the 24-year-old has won six of his nine starts in 2014-15, and comes into action with a .937 save percentage and 1.81 goals against average. Hutchinson has made two career starts against Boston and has stopped 68 of 71 shots, enough for a 1-0-1 record.
Stats of Note
- Loui Eriksson has three goals and an assist in his last five games played.
- B’s winger Brad Marchand has five goals and seven points in 12 career games against Winnipeg.
-
Milan Lucic has just one goal in 15 road games this season.
- Just two of
Blake Wheeler’s nine goals in 2014-15 have come on home ice.
-
Mark Scheifele has three goals and three assists in his last three games played.
Other news and notes
I appeared on today’s edition of the Hockey Buzzcast, where we talked about a whole bunch of stuff, including the slew of rumors involving the Boston Bruins, and namely, Loui Eriksson.
For those that don’t have an hour to kill, Eriksson has once again been linked to the St. Louis Blues, and USA Today’s Kevin Allen believes that the St. Louis front office could and would convince Eriksson to waive his no-trade clause to land with the club. The popular belief with this rumor is that any Eriksson trade to St. Louis would bring
T.J. Oshie to Boston, though the B’s are somewhat hesitant to bring another player with years left on his deal into the fold. Oshie has a $4.175 million cap-hit through 2016-17, while Eriksson’s $4.25 million cap-hit is on the Bruins’ books through next season.
Eriksson has scored 16 goals and recorded 54 points in 93 games as a Bruin.
Oshie has skated on the Blues’ top line with
David Backes for some time now, and tallied a career-high 21 goals and 60 points in 2013-14. He’s a hard forechecking winger with a right shot, and though he’s struggled in 2014-15, with five goals and 12 points in 24 games, possesses the blend of skill, speed, and grit that the Black and Gold have coveted for that top-line right wing spot.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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