It's finally here: Boston vs. Carolina set to begin tomorrow night

Today the Bruins had their last practice before Friday night's game six. The Canes also prepped for the tilt.

Here are your expected lines for game one.

CAROLINA-

Ray Whitney - Eric Staal - Chad LaRose

Tuomo Ruutu - Matt Cullen - Erik Cole

Sergei Samsonov - Rod Brind'Amour - Patrick Eaves

Ryan Bayda - Jussi Jokinen - Scott Walker

Tim Gleason - Joe Corvo

Joni Pitkanen - Dennis Seidenberg

Niclas Wallin - Anton Babchuk

Cam Ward

Michael Leighton

BOSTON-

P.J. Axelsson - Marc Savard - Phil Kessel

Mark Recchi - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Michael Ryder

Shawn Thornton - Stephane Yelle - Wheeler/Bitz

Zdeno Chara - Aaron Ward

Andrew Ference - Dennis Wideman

Mark Stuart - Montador/Hnidy

Tim Thomas

Manny Fernandez

By the indication of the way things have gone the last few practices, Andrew Ference should be back against the Hurricanes. Here is what Claude Julien said about Ference's availability in game one.

"We're going to make a gameday decision," said Julien when questioned about Andrew Ference. "There's no reason to say yay or nay now, we'll give him another day. "We want him to come in at 100% - nothing less. He seems pretty good, so if he's 100% tomorrow he's going to be in,"
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Now, with Eric Staal rolling right now, the Hurricanes main man should expect to see a lot of Zdeno Chara. Chara is always on the ice for Boston's opponents top scorer, and in this series a lot may weigh on the Chara and Staal battle.

Staal had the following to say about matching up with Big Z.

"It's a challenge," Staal said of the match up. "He's a big man. He's obviously got a great reach and is real strong in the corners. I've got to make sure I rely on my speed and my legs. Try and get him turning and twisting and doing thing he's not comfortable with. Rely on maybe a little more quickness than power. Keep it simple. It's going to be competitive. He's a competitive guy. So am I. I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Let's get it on!

Boston ready to tangle with Carolina Friday night

The boys came to work today finally knowing their second round opponent. The Bruins were all in good spirits and were excited to know when their second round series would begin.

A lot has been made of Boston's 4-0 record against Carolina this season, however, head coach Claude Julien said that it does not mean a thing.

Julien said, "They have found the sweet spot of their game since finishing their games against us."

Here were today's lines at practice.

P.J. Axelsson - Marc Savard - Phil Kessel

Mark Recchi - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Michael Ryder

Shawn Thornton - Stephane Yelle - Wheeler/Bitz

Zdeno Chara - Aaron Ward

Andrew Ference - Dennis Wideman

Mark Stuart - Montador/Hnidy

Tim Thomas

Manny Fernandez

The Bruins worked on the Power Play quite a bit and here were the lines.

PP1: Zdeno Chara, Dennis Wideman, Marc Savard, Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi.

PP2: Steve Montador/Andrew Ference, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Phil Kessel, Chuck Kobasew.

* Andrew Ference is likely to play in Friday's Game 1. Ference has been out since April 4.

Bruins get Hurricanes in Round two

The Boston Bruins will face-off with the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals, begining Friday night at the Garden.

Yes, the wait has been long but the Boston fans can yet again get ready for another exciting series out of their Bruins. The faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening.

My playoff predictions can be seen at www.myspace.com/bruinspace or by simply reading below.

Eastern Conference:

Boston over Carolina in 6 games

Washington over Pittsburgh in 7 games

Western Conference:

Detroit over Anaheim in 6 games

Vancouver over Detroit in 7 games

One option down, two to go

The Washington Capitals just defeated the New York Rangers, 2-1.

With this result the Bruins will now either play the Pittsburgh Penguins or Carolina Hurricanes.

The Bruins will play the Penguins is New Jersey defeats Carolina and Carolina if the Hurricanes can get past the Devils tonight.

The Devils currently lead the Canes, 3-2 after two periods.

We'll have more when we know, which will probably within the hour.

Thomas nominated for the Vezina

Today we learned that Boston goaltender, Tim Thomas was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the NHL's top goalie.

The other finalists are Minnesota’s Nicklas Backstrom and Columbus’s Steve Mason.

Here is how the goalies compare.

Nicklas Backstrom:

Record: 37-24-8

GAA: 2.33

Save %: .923

Steve Mason:

Record: 33-20-7

GAA: 2.29

Save %: .916

Tim Thomas:

Record: 36-11-7

GAA: 2.10

Save %: .933

To view a few of these goalies great stops this season, click the link below.

http://www.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=23&id=40793

It's the waiting game for the Bruins

So, all of us are looking to see who the Bruins will play in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and there are no answers at this point.
The up to the minute playoff results are as follows.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

Boston defeats Montreal 4-0

Pittsburgh defeats Philadelphia 4-2
Washington and New York tied 3-3

New Jersey and Carolina tied 3-3

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Detroit defeats Columbus 4-0

Vancouver defeats St. Louis 4-0

Anaheim leads San Jose 3-2

Chicago leads Calgary 3-2

The Possibilities...

*The Bruins will play the Rangers if New York defeats Washington in game 7.

*Boston will play Carolina if Carolina defeats New Jersey in game 7 and Washington defeats New York in their game 7.

*Boston will play Pittsburgh if Washington defeats New York in game 7 and New Jersey defeats Carolina in their game 7.

OK, so we still have three possibilities here. The answers will come this week for the black and gold and where their opponent will come from.

Boston and Montreal could spice things up in game four

Hello Bruins fans,

Here's your day before game four tidbits.

Here's a message from your front office VP and playing legend. Some of your know him as Seabass, the rest of you know him as Cam Neely.
Click the link below to see Cam Neely's recap of game three and thoughts on the upcoming game four.http://bruins.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=955&id=40405
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As most of you know, the Habs fans did it again last night, and booed our National Anthem. No, not "nutty" (the Bruins old unofficial anthem for the confused) but the United States of America's anthem. It begs the question, are the Canadien fans dumb? Do they not know that they are booing the United States of America and NOT the Bruins? Apparently not. Here is Bob Gainey's response when asked

* "I feel like there's a confusion there with the fans," Gainey said of pockets of the Bell Centre booing the American national anthem last night. "They feel like booing the anthem is supporting our team in that the anthem represents the Boston team. If they can separate those two things and respect the anthem of the United States of America, they can still participate loudly and in whatever they want to disrupt the Bruins."

Finally, a player status update from today's skate.

*Milan Lucic will be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Habs, most likely taking Byron Bitz's spot.

*Andrew Ference will miss game four but took a quick spin around the ice for the first time. Ference is hoping to be able to return for Boston's potential second round series.

And Finally,

The Bruins are one game away from eliminating the Canadiens and I think that game four has the potential to be a blood bath. If the Canadiens are behind in the third period, look for them to start taking their final shots at the Bruins. Look for Mike Komisarek to make a run at Milan Lucic and George Laroque to be making a run at everyone. The Bruins will hope it ends this way as that will mean the match has been set.

And now finally to update how things are going in the other playoff rounds...

New York (7) leads 2-1 over Washington (2)

New Jersey (3) tied 2-2 with Carolina (6)

Pittsburgh (4) leads 3-1 over Philadelphia (5)

Anaheim (8) leads 2-0 over San Jose (1)

Detroit (2) leads 3-0 over Columbus (7)

Vancouver (3) leads 3-0 over St Louis (6)

Chicago (4) leads 2-1 over Calgary (5)

The dagger has been inserted: Bruins up 3-0 in series

The dagger has been inserted into the Habs heart, now it's time to twist it. The Bruins were up for the Bell Centre tonight and the end result was win number three of a necessary four.

The beat goes on, Milan Lucic out, Byron Bitz in. Bitz was a factor in the game and made a great play along the wall to set up Shawn Thornton for Boston's second goal. It shows the Bruins depth and that no matter who is in there, Boston is a better team than Montreal.

The Bruins will try to wrap up the series Wednesday night at the Bell Centre. What a great feeling it would be if the Bruins could do it in Montreal, in the very place the Bruins season ended last year.

We'll be all over it Wednesday night if the B's wrap it up with our series reaction vlog.

Bruins Goal Scorers:

Phil Kessel (3)

Michael Ryder (2)

Chuck Kobasew (2)

Shawn Thornton (1)