Event: Boston Bruins at Winnipeg Jets
Date/Time: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - 8:30 p.m. EDT.
Location: MTS Centre (Capacity: 15,004), Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Broadcast Info: Tuesday's game between the Bruins and the Jets will be broadcast live on NESN. The game can also be heard on the 98.5 the Sports Hub Radio Network, with Dave Goucher providing play-by-play, and Bob Beers providing analysis.
Last Time Out: The Bruins are playing in their first back-to-back road series of the season after coming up with a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Tim Thomas had 45 saves and let in only one goal for his tenth-straight win. The Bruins traveled over 1,000 miles last night to make it to Manitoba, and had no morning skate because of the late night travel.
Benoit Pouliot, Gregory Campbell and Tyler Seguin each netted a goal, and the Bruins kept both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out of the net to notch their fourth straight win, and their 14th of the last 15 games.
The Jets have won their last two games and are hoping to add a third tonight. Just 10 days ago they took a 4-2 loss to the Bruins in Boston, in the midst of their own back-to-back games. But the past couple of games have them back on track. Evander Kane specifically has led the way, with two goals on Saturday that put them past the New Jersey Devils 4-2. Alexander Burmistrov netted the tying goal and former Bruins players Mark Stuart took the game winning goal, with the helper going to Blake Wheeler.
Storyline: The last time these two teams met, the Bruins came out on top with a 4-2 win. That game, both teams had to play the previous day, but Winnipeg didn’t have the advantage of being at home.
Chris Kelly had two goals in that game and the Bruins came back from a two goal deficit to win. Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand also netted goals.
The main difference tonight will be the goaltender. Tim Thomas was in net before, but most likely Tuukka Rask will serve between the pipes tonight. With the late game and overnight flight, the 37-year old netminder should get some rest today. Rask is 4-1-0 against the Jets franchise, including a split with the Atlanta Thrashers last year. The Finnish goaltender is coming off a 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Players To Watch: Rask will be key in tonight’s game and someone to definitely watch. At the beginning of the season his starts in net usually meant no offensive support, but that’s been changing in the past couple of games. Offensively, that third line with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley had success against this team, so it’s not unreasonable to think they can’t do it again. The second line with Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand should also be stepping up because they haven’t been as loud as they should be for a couple of games now.
Prediction: I think you the outcome will definitely be directly connected to how they play in the first period. Last game against this team, the Jets came out early and scored a couple of goals to put the Bruins behind very quickly. If they do that again, with the Bruins already fatigued, they have the capacity to derail them. But, if the Bruins come out with energy and get ahead with a couple of goals, we’ve seen what they can do with a lead. Final Score: Bruins 3, Jets 1.
Filed under: