And this is where things will get tough for the Boston Bruins.
After a Saturday breather against an abysmal Carolina squad, the Bruins get back to work against some of the league’s best with a visit from David Backes and the St. Louis Blues.
The top of the Central, the Blues are widely regarded as basically the Western Conference’s version of the Bruins, and can beat you a number of different ways. They have a deep forward corp, with Vladimir Tarasenko emerging as one of the league’s prettiest goal scorers. Their defense is mobile and more than sound in their own end. They also have the second best power-play in the league and points in all but one of their six road contests this season.
They’re good.
But the Bruins look like a club that’ll see the return of their most valuable forward, David Krejci.
In and out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury all year long, the Czech center was a full participant in the Bruins’ morning skate at TD Garden, and will likely center Milan Lucic on the left side and Seth Griffith on the first line. But his coach wouldn’t completely give Krejci the nod, either.
“I don’t know yet,… Claude Julien said of Krejci’s status. “The thing I would tell you is if you see a call up this afternoon, at some point, it means he’s not and if not I guess everything’s OK.…
(The Bruins did not make a call up after the morning skate, so Krejci’s likely a go.)
Boston will, however, be without the services of Brad Marchand, as he left the skate early.
“Not well,… Julien noted when asked how Marchand’s doing. “He went off the ice so he won’t be [playing].…
Julien confirmed that Marchand is not suffering from a concussion (obvious good news), but his loss does come as a big one given the way he’s rebounded after a slow start. The 5-foot-9 agitator has posted eight points in his last eight contests, and the Bruins are an impressive 8-0-0 when he had at least one point.
Marchand’s absence opens up the left side of Boston’s second line, too. You can can expect one of either Matt Fraser or Chris Kelly to skate in that spot, with the other skating on the third line with Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson. Personally, I’d give the look to Fraser, at least to start. I think Fraser is a streaky scorer with a dynamite shot (much like Nathan Horton, I’d say), and I don’t think you can really effectively bury that with 10-minute games on the third or fourth line.
Furthermore, I don’t think you really want to take Kelly’s forecheck off that third line.
Heck, maybe you even give Simon Gagne a look at the left wing on that second line. I mean, that is his natural position, and his advanced numbers have been some kind of awful this year, so maybe you put him with the Bruins’ best in that regard and hope something works.
St. Louis will give the start to the veteran Brian Elliott. The 29-year-old has a 7-3-1 record for the Blues this year, along with a stellar 1.87 goals against average and .930 save percentage. He’s also won six of his last seven contests, and stopped 24-of-25 in his last outing, a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals back on Nov. 15. But despite all that success, Newmarket, Ont. native has just three wins and an ugly .898 save percentage in 11 career games against the Black and Gold. There’s a slight asterisk next to those figures, though, as most of those contests came when Elliott was on some absolutely terrible Ottawa squads.
Boston counters with Tuukka Rask. The star of the Bruins’ 2-1 win over Carolina this past Saturday, finishing the night with 33 stops, Rask enters this contest with a solid 9-5-0 record and .908 save percentage. It’s been a struggle, no doubt, but it looks as if Rask’s getting his game back on track. He hasn’t been the Vezina winner of a year ago, but again, he’s kept them in more games than lost. In his career, Rask has just one win in four games against the Blues, but has posted a .933 save percentage over that stretch.
Three of Reilly Smith’s four goals in 2014-15 have come at home.
Torey Krug has two assists in two career games against St. Louis.
Patrice Bergeron has three goals and eight points in his last seven games played.
T.J Oshie has just one goal in six career games against the Bruins.
Jaden Schwartz has a six-game point streak (two goals, 10 points).
News and Notes
On a positive note for the Bruins, defenseman Kevan Miller has been cleared to play.
Injuring his shoulder in a fight back on Oct. 18, the rugged third-pairing defenseman will take part in the pregame skate as one of the club’s seven defensemen before a decision is made, per Claude Julien.
The B’s lost both games against St. Louis last year in overtime -- one in the shootout, the other in overtime.