Bruins Look to Turn Things Around Against Red Wings in Motown
Boston comes into this game on the heels of a frustrating 1-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, while the Red Wings return from a five-game road trip after beating the Flames 3-1 win on Saturday.
Both teams have suffered injuries to star players. The Bruins are missing center Marc Savard and Milan Lucic, and the Red Wings are missing Johan “The Mule” Franzen. Both teams have also searched for some consistency in the win department, so this looks to be a very hard-fought matchup at Joe Louis Arena, as two teams that were among the best in the NHL last season try to get on track.
When And Where
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. (Versus)
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Mich.
Records
Bruins (6-6-1), 13 points, fourth in Northeast Division, tied for eighth in Eastern Conference
Red Wings (5-4-3), 13 points, tied for third in Central Division, tied for 11th in Western Conference
Head to Head
This is the first and only meeting of the season between these Original Six clubs.
Last season, the Bruins beat the Red Wings 4-1 at the TD Garden. Blake Wheeler and David Krejci both had a goal and an assist to give the Bruins their longest home winning streak (eight) in 25 years. The win also capped an 11-1-1 November for the Bruins, who had their most productive month in 30 years.
The Bruins' last win at Joe Louis Arena came on their last visit there, a 6-3 victory on March 11, 2007.
The last time the Red Wings beat the Bruins was on Feb. 2, 2008, at the TD Garden.
The Bruins trail the lifetime series 235-243-95-2.
Skinny
The Bruins are models of consistency — but not exactly the consistency they want. Since losing their season opener to the Capitals on Oct. 1, the Bruins have followed a pattern of winning a game, then losing a game to get to 6-6-1. Considering they lost their last game, it may be a safe bet to expect the Black and Gold to come out of Motown with a victory. Right now, they seem to be the most predictable team in hockey, but unfortunately, that is not due to a winning streak.
One of the main reasons the Bruins can’t seem to string together wins has been their lack of scoring — more specifically, their futility on the power play. After going 0-for-5 on the man advantage on Sunday, the Bruins are now 0-for-13 on the power play in their last four games. They are 1-for-19 over the last seven games and just 6-for-53 (11.3 percent) this season.
Captain Zdeno Chara thinks the Bruins might be trying to do too much on the man advantage and need to settle down the tempo a bit.
"When we do have chances, we have to stay calm,’’ Chara told the media following Boston's 1-0 loss to the Rangers on Sunday. ‘‘We have to take that extra half-second instead of firing everything right away. I think our attitude around the net has improved. We are hungrier around the net. But sometimes we are so crowded down there it’s like we are battling each other.’’
The Red Wings, hampered by injuries and possibly fatigue from playing deep into the playoffs and June each of the last two seasons, have been quite the opposite of the Bruins. Detroit has had one two-game winning streak and two losing streaks, one of two games and one of three games. Picked as a favorite coming into the season, the Red Wings have stumbled out of the gate, but they feel they can recover from this early-season adversity.
The Red Wings battled hard in their last game in Calgary and wrapped up their longest road trip of the season with a 2-1-2 record. The win left them with a solid feeling as they returned home.
“As a group of five, we stayed together a lot better, stayed close to one another,” captain Nicklas Lidstrom told the Detroit Free Press. “When we retrieved the puck in our zone, I thought we had support to make that short outlet pass to get out of our zone. It was a real strong effort to finish the trip.”
Projected Lineups
Bruins
Forwards
Marco Sturm–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille–Vladimir Sobotka–Brad Marchand
Byron Bitz/Trent Whitfield–Steve Begin–Shawn Thornton
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick–Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart–Andrew Ference
Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Red Wings
Forwards
Todd Bertuzzi–Pavel Datsyuk–Tomas Holmstrom
Dan Cleary–Henrik Zetterberg–Jason Williams
Kris Draper–Darren Helm–Patrick Eaves
Brad May–Justin Abdelkader–Kirk Maltby
Defensemen
Nicklas Lidstrom–Niklas Kronwall
Brett Lebda–Brad Stuart
Doug Janik–Derek Meech
Goaltenders
Chris Osgood
Jimmy Howard
Goaltender Matchup
Bruins
Tim Thomas is 4-5-0 with a 2.66 GAA and a .910 save percentage. Thomas has one shutout this season and has allowed only three goals in his last two starts. Thomas made 23 saves in Sunday's 1-0 loss to the Rangers.
Tuukka Rask is 2-1-1 with a 2.41 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Rask got his first shutout of the season Saturday with a 19-save performance in a 2-0 win over Edmonton.
Red Wings
Chris Osgood is 4-2-2 with a 3.10 GAA and a .889 save percentage.
Jimmy Howard is 1-2-1 with a 3.42 GAA and a .879 save percentage
Stat Sheet
Bruins
Forward Patrice Bergeron (four goals, four assists) leads the team in points with eight. Bergeron is also tied with injured center Marc Savard and forward Blake Wheeler for the team lead in goals.
Forward Marco Sturm (two goals, five assists), defenseman Derek Morris (one goal, six assists) Wheeler (four goals, three assists) and Savard (four goals, three assists) are tied for second in team scoring with seven points each.
Defenseman Zdeno Chara leads the blue-line scoring with six assists and six points. Chara and Morris are tied for the lead in assists.
The Bruins have been outscored 34-31 in their first 13 games.
The Bruins are averaging 2.38 goals per game and allowing 2.62 goals per game.
The Bruins have not allowed a power-play goal in the last six games and killed off fourteen straight power plays during that span. Boston has allowed 10 power-play goals on 46 opportunities and is now killing off opponents’ power plays at a 78.3 percent clip.
The Bruins are 2-2-1 on the road this season.
The Bruins are 1-0-0 against the Central Division.
The Bruins are 3-3-0 against the Western Conference.
Red Wings
Winger Henrik Zetterberg (two goals, nine assists) leads the Red Wings in points and assists.
Center Pavel Datsyuk (two goals, eight assists) is second on the team in points and assists. Datsyuk has two goals and eight assists in his last five games, after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury.
Winger Tomas Holmstrom (seven goals, two assists) leads the team in goals and is third in points.
Defensemen Brian Rafalski (one goal, five assists) and Niklas Kronwall (two goals, four assists) lead the Detroit blue line with six points each.
Black and Blue
Bruins
Forward Marc Savard was placed on long-term injured reserve on Oct. 21 with a broken left foot and will miss four to five more weeks.
Forward Milan Lucic was placed on long-term injured reserve on Oct. 18 and had successful surgery on a broken index finger. He is expected to miss four to five weeks.
Forward Byron Bitz missed the Bruins' 1-0 loss at New York on Sunday and is questionable for Tuesday’s game with a groin injury.
Red Wings
Forward Johan Franzen is on injured reserve and is expected to miss at least three more months following left knee surgery.
Forward Valtteri Filppula is expected to miss six to eight weeks with a broken wrist.
Forward Brad May is expected to miss one week with blurred vision in his right eye.
Defensemen Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski are out for Tuesday’s game with flu-like symptoms.
Niklas Kromwall is questionable as well with the flu.
This Date in Bruins History
On November 3, 1974, Johnny ("Chief") Bucyk became the highest scoring left wing in NHL history, in a 10-1 win over the visiting Minnesota North Stars. Bucyk's two assists moved him ahead of Bobby Hull's 1,153 career points. It was just the NHL's second 10-goal game with ten scorers.
Overheard
“I’m certainly not going to complain about our effort. We did everything, except right now we’re not scoring goals. Our top-end guys have got to find a way to start scoring some goals. Until that happens, we’re going to be dealing with these types of games.”
–Bruins head coach Claude Julien on his team’s scoring woes
Press Box
Bruins
Marco Sturm, Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi make up the new No. 1 line.
The Bruins need to rebound from injuries.
The Bruins know they need to find ways to score.
Red Wings
Several Red Wings have been hit by the flu, with Brian Rafalski and Jonathan Ericsson out for the game.
Brad May is thankfully OK after a freak eye injury.
The Wings are feeling good after their road trip.
Casey Richey of Winging It In Motown discussed the Red Wings with NESN.com.
NHL
If he passes a physical Tuesday morning, Phil Kessel will play first game as a Maple Leaf.
Per Brent Sutter's orders, the Flames battle each other in practice if they won't battle opponent.
John Tavares is learning quickly.
Senators owner Eugene Melnyk wants his "Heatley" bonus money back.
Outlook
Not to point out the obvious, but the Bruins need to score, and furthermore, they need to light the lamp on the power play. They have shored up their team defense, and their penalty kill has been perfect over the last six games. They are also getting solid goaltending, but the bottom line is, they need to score.
That won’t be easy against a Red Wings team that plays strong team defense, has a strong forechecking system and has six-time Norris Trophy winner and future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom patrolling the blue line.
The Bruins will have their hands full with the perennial Stanley Cup contenders and need to continue to apply and stick within their system. Chris Osgood hasn’t been spectacular between the pipes, so if they can somehow get shots through that vaunted Red Wings defense and create traffic in front, they may have a chance to come out of Hockeytown with a win.
