Game Day: Bruins and Senators; Thomas may start

The Boston Bruins will play the Ottawa Senators tonight from the TD Garden. Boston is coming off of a 2-1 SO loss yesterday against the Devils. Ottawa is coming off of a 2-1 victory against Columbus.

Boston and Ottawa are tied for first place in the Northeast division, so tonight's battle is a big one. The Bruins has won five games in a row against the Senators at the Garden.

There is a lot of speculation that Tim Thomas will make his return to the Boston crease tonight. Thomas has been sidelined with a reported hand injury, and has not seen action since Nov. 14, in Pittsburgh.

After making his return to the lineup on the 19th, Milan Lucic is out again with an ankle injury. Lucic is expected to be out until Christmas. Vladimir Sobotka is expected to take Lucic's spot in the lineup while Lucic nurses his ankle.

The Bruins have obtained points in nine of their last 10 games, and with that have moved to fifth place in the Eastern Conference. A win tonight can propel Boston to the third spot in the conference.

UPDATE: Rene Rancourt is in the house. It is always a good night when Rene kicks off the game with the anthems.

Mike Fisher, a center for the Senators will also play tonight. Fisher has missed the last two games for Ottawa with an upper-body injury.

It looks like the goalie match-up will be Tim Thomas vs. Brian Elliott tonight @ the Garden in the battle for first.

Savard ready to go

The Boston Globe is reporting that Marc Savard will play tomorrow night in St. Louis. They are also noting that Savard will center a line with Marco Sturm on the left and Byron Bitz on the right.

With Savard back, this leaves Boston with 13 healthy forwards. The likely scratch will be Vladimir Sobotka. Sobotka will likely be the scratch over Daniel Paille because of Paille's value on the penalty kill.

The team's penalty kill was horrendous before Paille's arrival, but is now positioned as the 5th best PK unit in the NHL. Look for Paille to be in there against St. Louis, who is one of the four teams with a better PK percentage than Boston.

Bruins best Buffalo in overtime

The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres met tonight in a Northeast division throw down. The game lived up to a traditional divisional battle, as the Bruins and Sabres had to settle things in overtime.

The Sabres struck first in this game, just four minutes and twenty seconds into the first period.

Bryon Bitz was sent off for tripping Patrick Kaleta at 16:37, and Buffalo was able to take advantage on the power play.

Paul Guastad, who was parked on the doorstep, got his stick on a Jason Pominville slapper from the blue line, and Buffalo was off to a good start.

Gaustad's fifth goal of the season carried the Sabres into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

The second period was all Boston, and about half way through the second, their hard work was rewarded.

Tuukka Rask had just made a nice save, and the puck deflected out to Byron Bitz who beat a Buffalo defender to the puck. Bitz brought the puck up ice, two-on-one with Milan Lucic.

Bitz made a feed across the slot for Lucic, and Lucic deposited the pass, past Ryan Miller with a quick wrister.

The goal was Lucic's first goal of the season. This was Lucic's second game back after returning from a 14 game absence due to a finger injury.

Buffalo controlled the majority of the play in the third period, out shooting the Bruins, 15-6 in the stanza.

However, Rask was up to the challenge, and he would carry Boston into overtime. This was Boston's fourth overtime battle in their last five games.

Boston would not wait long in the overtime session to make their mark. Patrice Bergeron scored 47 seconds into overtime, to give Boston the 2-1 victory.

Bergeron won the face off in the Buffalo zone and then went to the slot to tip in a shot by Zdeno Chara.

The win for Boston pulls them within two points of the Sabres for first place in the Northeast division.

Rask made 25 saves in the win for the Bruins, making his third straight start. Tim Thomas has been sidelined due to an undisclosed injury.

Boston will next be in action on Monday night in St. Louis. This game has been speculated to be the return game for Marc Savard.

Lots to look forward to for Bruins fans, as Boston has won back-to-back games, and the Bruins leading point man is ready to make his return to the lineup.

Marchand assigned, Savard still not ready, Rask to start again

The Bruins and Sabres will get at it tonight in Buffalo. Here are some quick hits to bring you up to speed for tonight's game.

*Marc Savard will not play tonight in Buffalo. Savard could make his return Monday night in St. Louis.

*Brad Marchand has been assigned to Providence. Boston is now down to 13 forwards with the big club. This would lead you to believe that Marc Savard will return Monday night.

*It's Tuukka Time again tonight in Buffalo. This will be Rask's third straight start. Tim Thomas is still sidelined due to minor undisclosed injury.

*Marc Savard is close to signing a seven year extension, worth $39 million ($5.7 million per) according to a report from Canada’s RDS.

Whitfield placed on waivers

The Boston Bruins have place forward, Trent Whitfield on waivers. If Whitfield is not claimed, he will re-join the Providence Bruins.

This move was expected, now that Milan Lucic has returned. The Bruins may be returning one more player to Providence soon also, as Marc Savard is expected back in the lineup within the week.

Lucic set to make return tonight

We were all wondering when we would see Milan Lucic and Marc Savard back in the lineup. Well, for at least one of those players, the wait ends tonight.

Boston Bruins GM, Peter Chiarelli announced that Milan Lucic will play in tonight's game against the Atlanta Thrashers. Lucic is not expected to be back in the top six mix tonight.

Marc Savard did make the trip with the club, but will not suit up tonight. Savard is, however, expected to play at some point during the team's four game road trip.

The train wreck continues, Isles burn Bruins, 4-1

A train wreck is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler explosion occurs.

That description comes when you look up the definition of a train wreck. The same description could be found when describing the Boston Bruins at the present moment.

The New York Islanders beat down the Bruins, 4-1 tonight at the TD Garden to continue the trains path off the track.

Tonight, it was offensive Juggernaut, Matt Moulson who netted two goals to sink the Bruins. Also, number one overall draft pick John Tavares scored an ugly goal.

Early in the third period, with the Islanders holding a 2-1 lead, Dennis Wideman turned the puck over by the Boston cage. The play was all too familiar to Bruins fans, as the turnover by Wideman lead to the Isles third goal, and the final nail in the coffin.

The ugly goals have been piling up as of late for Boston. The overtime winner in Pittsburgh on Saturday night was mirrored yet again tonight.

This time Tuukka Rask played the role of Tim Thomas and gave the puck to the Islanders who were quickly able to get the puck to the slot and into the back of the net.

The Bruins played quite the ugly game, and will be worked like dogs over the next couple of days in practice to make up for their lackluster effort.

The only Bruin who seems to show consistent passion is Shawn Thornton, and even he looks like he is getting frustrated.

The Bruins will go on the road for a four game road trip before the Thanksgiving holiday. The trip could be the return for both Milan Lucic and Marc Savard.

Lucic is expected to return either Thursday in Atlanta or Saturday in Buffalo. Savard may make a return to the team by the trips end, next Wednesday in Minnesota.

The return of the duo can not come soon enough, as the train has already derailed, and isn't that far from exploding.

Bruins and Penguins pre-game notes

The Boston Bruins are in Pittsburgh, for tonight's match with the Penguins.

The Bruins are coming off of a 1-0, SO loss to the Florida Panthers. Tim Thomas has recorded back to back shut outs against Florida, and Pittsburgh.

Look for Thomas to start in goal tonight for the black and gold, with Marc-Andre Fleury starting in net for Pittsburgh.

The Bruins lines remained the same today at practice and are as follows.

Forwards:

Sturm - Bergeron - Recchi

Wheeler - Krejci - Ryder

Paille - Sobotka - Marchand

Thornton - Begin - Bitz

Defense:

Chara - Morris

Stuart - Wideman

Hunwick - Ference

The Penguins will have one of their super stars back in the lineup tonight. Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma announced that Evgeni Malkin will return to the lineup tonight against Boston, while Chris Kunitz is out with a lower body injury.

The Penguins should line up like this tonight.

Forwards:

Fedotenko-Crosby-Malkin

Bourque-Staal-Guerin

Cooke-Letestu-Dupuis

Rupp-Adams-Godard

Defense:

Skoula-Lovejoy

McKee-Goligoski

Eaton-Engelland

Look for a steady dose of the Chara and Morris pairing on the ice whenever the Crosby-Malkin line is out there. The two teams will face off from the Igloo tonight at 7:30.

Morris misses practice; Savard and Bruins close to extension?

Today the Bruins practiced in Wilmington, minus Derek Morris. Morris, was given a maintenance day by Claude Julien and will be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers.

There was not much in terms of news today for the Bruins on the ice, but there were rumblings off the ice.

According to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside, talks between Marc Savard's agent and the Boston Bruins are now going on every day as the two sides try to hammer out a deal to keep Savard in Boston.

The two are saying that a deal could be struck shortly, however, if nothing comes soon it may not come at all. The longer the Bruins wait, the more likely it will be for Savard to test the free agent waters come July 1.

Stay tuned.

Krejci back at practice; Lucic and Savard progressing on schedule

Good evening Bruins fans. The Bruins were in Wilmington today preparing for tomorrow night's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here are today's noteworthy happenings.

*David Krejci returned to practice this morning for the first time since being diagnosed with the H1N1 virus last Wednesday.

Claude Julien has not said whether or not Krejci will play tomorrow night against Pittsburgh, but people are telling me it is very likely.

*Michael Ryder missed practice today due to being ill. However, coach Julien was quick to shoot down the rumblings that he may too have H1N1.

*Here is today's lineup, plus Krejci and minus Ryder.

Mark Recchi – Patrice Bergeron – Marco Sturm

Vladimir Sobotka – David Krejci – Blake Wheeler

Daniel Paille – Trent Whitfield – Brad Marchand

Shawn Thornton – Steve Begin – Byron Bitz

*Milan Lucic skated before practice in full gear with a puck. Lucic suffered a broken right index finger, so the fact that he is handling pucks is a good thing.

Previous reports (Tweeted at http://twitter.com/BruinSpace) were that Lucic is targeting a November 19 return date.

*Marc Savard, is also progressing as scheduled right now. He is going to be out longer than Lucic, as his injury is more delicate.

Savard still has a walking boot on his left foot, but is still hoping to be back by the end of the month.

Bruins finally score, but still fall in shoot out

The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadien's took the ice against one another for the 700th time in the team's storied history.

The Bruins, however, were on the losing end of the match up tonight, falling 2-1 in a shoot out.

The Canadiens goal came late in the first period, when Andrei Kostitsyn wrapped the puck around the Bruins goal to Glen Metropolit for the goal.

Matt Hunwick and Dennis Wideman collided to allow Kostitsyn the lane to the goal, and Metro put the garbage in the barrel.

The Bruins were shut out during the first period, and went to the locker room without a goal for the seventh straight time.

With about two and a half minutes to go in the second period, it looked like Bruins had broken their scoreless streak. However, the goal was reviewed and called off as the net had been knocked off of its moorings.

As the Bruins skated to the locker room after the end of the second period it looked like the scoreless streak was getting to them. The Bruins heads were down, and they were one period away from a third straight shut out and a loss to their bitter rival.

Things stayed the same for the first 19 minutes of the third period, but things finally changed. With 52 seconds remaining, Patrice Bergeron ended the streak at 192 minutes and six seconds with a rebound tally.

The teams headed to overtime and with no goals scored, then headed to a shoot out. Michael Cammalleri was the lone player to score in the shootout to give the Montreal Canadiens a 2-1 victory.

The Bruins loss was their fourth in five games and the power play went scoreless yet again. Boston's power play is the worst PP in the league.

When the Bruins lost Marc Savard, people expected the team's scoring to decrease. However, the Bruins passion and toughness seems to have fallen off the map as well.

This scribe would have to think that has to do with the absence of Milan Lucic. Both Lucic and Savard are targeting a return prior to Thanksgiving.

Boston will play nine games before the Thanksgiving holiday. So the question must be asked, can the Bruins weather the storm until these two return?

Oh, and did I mention David Krejci will likely miss the next two games as well?

Krejci diasnosed with swine flu; Rask signed to two-year extension

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Boston Bruins. Today, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced that the club’s medical staff has confirmed a diagnosis of H1N1 for David Krejci.

Based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations, Krejci will be isolated from the rest of the team until he is symptom and fever free for 24 hours.

The spread of the virus to other players and coaches is a concern for the Bruins, but the team is confident that the virus will not spread.

Look for Krejci to miss a few games due to the illness. This of course is coming at a time where the Bruins are already minus Marc Savard, Milan Lucic and Byron Bitz.

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If you want to see a video of Peter Chiarelli discussing the Krejci case, check out the blog at http://www.myspace.com/bostonbruinspace

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There was, however, some good news that came out today. The GM for Boston was busy, announcing that the club has signed goaltender Tuukka Rask to a two-year contract extension through the 2011-12 season.

Chiarelli told reporters today that Rask's final cap figure, beginning next season, will be $1.25 million. Rask will make $1 million next season, and jump to $1.5 million in 2011-'12.

This is a solid deal for the Bruins, that will get another one of their young and talented players signed past this season. There is no doubt that Chiarelli wants to get these young guys signed before they hit free agency this July; see Phil Kessel.

One would have to speculate that Blake Wheeler may be the next to talk terms with the Bruins. Wheeler, will also be a restricted free agent at seasons end, like Rask and Lucic would have been.

Bruins shuffle lines in attempt to stimulate some offense

With the Bruins struggling to score goals, Bruins bench boss, Claude Julien shuffled the lines today at practice.

Old line mates Blake Wheeler, David Krejci, and Michael Ryder were back together. Remember, this line was dynamite at times last season. Also, Patrice Bergeron is now playing with Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi.

The third line is one I like quite a bit, with Daniel Paille, Vladimir Sobotka and Bard Marchand. This line is full of quick and pesky forwards who work very hard and cycle well.

Shawn Thornton and Steve Begin took their regular spots on the fourth line with Trent Whitfield getting the look on the left side. Whitfield will likely go tomorrow in place of Byron Bitz who missed Sunday's game with an injury. Bitz is expected back on Thursday night against Montreal.

A look at the lines...

Sturm Bergeron Recchi

Wheeler Krejci Ryder

Paille Sobotka Marchand

Whitfield Begin Thornton

Chara Morris

Hunwick Wideman

Stuart Ference

(Johnny Boychuk)

Tim Thomas

Tuukka Rask

Finally, a quick note for tomorrow night's game. Detroit head coach Mike Babcock said that Chris Osgood will start in goal Tuesday night.

Lundqvist shuts out Bruins for 150th career victory

In typical Bruins and Rangers fashion, Boston and New York skated in a tightly defended one goal game.

Unfortunately for Boston, they came out on the short end, as New York posted a 1-0 victory.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for his 21st career shutout. It was a milestone win for Lundqvist, as he posted his 150th NHL victory.

Marian Gaborik, who had missed the last two games due to a groin injury was a game time decision today for the Rangers. Unfortunately for the Bruins, Gaborik suited up and scored the games lone goal.

The goal was Gaborik's 11th of the season, putting him second in the NHL in lighting the lamp this season, behind only Alexander Ovechkin.

The goal was a beauty by Gaborik, who let go a quick wrister from the high slot. Gaborik's shot was the only piece or rubber that found itself in the goal all day.

With the loss, Boston continued its season-long trend of alternating wins and losses. A streak that Tim Thomas hopes will end soon. "You'd like to win them all, but we're headed in the right direction. Even if every game we're not getting the results," said Thomas.

Quality scoring chances were hard to come by for both teams, but Boston had a good opportunity in the third period to tie the score.

The Bruins had four straight minutes of power-play time in the third period and Lundqvist denied Mark Recchi right on the door step.

One bright note for the Bruins was that their penalty killed off both of New York's power play attempts. Boston has now killed 14 straight penalties after their dismal start on the PK.

However, the part of the Bruins game that continues to concern is Boston's power play. The black and gold went scoreless on all five PP attempts today, and have not netted a goal on the man advantage since Marc Savard went down with a foot injury.

Boston has no one to quarterback the unit with Savard out and Boston's power play is ranked 14th in the Eastern Conference, only ahead of the Florida Panthers power play.

That being said, Bruins coach Claude Julien was not disappointed with his teams play.

"We played hard," Julien said. "We did everything, except right now we're just not scoring goals. "Until that happens, we're going to be dealing with these types of games. It becomes frustrating for everybody."

Frustrating for everybody is an accurate statement by Julien, as this brand of hockey has become tough to watch.

The Bruins seem to have sured things up on the back end, but until Savard and Milan Lucic return to the Boston lineup things could stay stagnant up front.

Three Stars

1) Henrik Lundqvist

2) Marian Gaborik

3) Tim Thomas