* While the Wings have only 263 penalty minutes, fifth-fewest in the NHL, they recalled bruiser Darren McCarty from Grand Rapids yesterday. So we might see a throw down despite Detroit's history of staying away from the rough stuff.
* Detroit has the No. 1 power play in the league, humming at a 32.3 percent efficiency rate.The Bruins on the other hand are 11th in the NHL with an 82.8% kill rate.
* The Bruins and Red Wings are both in second place in their respective conferences. The Bruins are two points behind the Rangers while the Red Wings are five points behind the Sharks.
FERNANDEZ TO START
Manny Fernandez will get back to back starts and will be between the pipes tonight against Detroit. This was apparently expected in Bruins circles as Tim Thomas has been reporting fatigue recently. This is why I say that Manny is crucial as Thomas isn't that Mart Brodeur who can play 70 games a year, though few are.
Tonight's lines...
Milan Lucic - Marc Savard - Phil Kessel
P.J. Axelsson - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew
Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Michael Ryder
Petteri Nokelainen - Stephane Yelle - Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara - Aaron Ward
Matt Hunwick - Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart - Shane Hnidy
Manny Fernandez
Tim Thomas
Fernandez will be up against Ty Conklin (6-2-0, 2.48 GAA, .914 save percentage) tonight. Fernandez of course is hot going 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. Fernandez has a 2.26 GAA and a .920 save percentage over that stretch.
Detroit's expected starters
Tomas Kopecky - Pavel Datsyuk - Marian Hossa
Mikael Samuelsson - Henrik Zetterberg - Johan Franzen
Jiri Hudler - Valtteri Filppula - Dan Cleary
Kirk Maltby - Kris Draper - Darren McCarty
Brian Rafalski - Nicklas Lidstrom
Niklas Kronwall - Brad Stuart
Brett Lebda - Andreas Lilja
Ty Conklin
Chris Osgood
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