Game # 30 – Bruin Battling

11 years ago

It’s Hockey NIght in Winnipeg tonight as your Winnipeg Jets face-off against the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins live from the MTS Center in a battle between two teams trying to get themselves back into First place in their respective divisions. Can the Jets win and leapfrog over the Hurricanes for the Division lead? WIll the Bruins eke a third Victory against Blake Wheeler and the Gang and overtake Les Canadiens for 1st place? Tonight we find out.

The Matchup

Winnipeg Jets

Ladd – Little – Wheeler
Kane – Jokinen – Wright
Wellwood – Antropov – Miettinen
Tangradi – Burmistrov – Thorburn

Byfuglien – Clitsome
Hainsey – Bogosian
Stuart – Meech

Pavelec

Notes and Trash Talk…Alex Burmistrov draws back into the line up at long last…Tobias Enstrom is back skating…The Jets lost the previous 2 matchups against the Beatown bunch in February, both by 1 goal scores….Team WInnipeg signed defenseman Arturs Kulda on Monday. He played 50 games in the KHL this season after spending 15 games in total with the Jets/Thrashers organization. Drafted in the 7h round, 200th overall in the 2006 draft. He is not expected in the lineup tonight…The Jets were in First place for all of a day earlier this week. It got me to thinking when the last time I could say the Jets were in First place in March. My memory indicates this has NEVER happened before…This is the first game of a 4 games Homestand. Here’s hoping a good heaping of Salisbury House can help the Guys reach their stride and sweep the Home games.

Boston Bruins

Lucic – Spooner – Horton
Marchand – Bergeron – Seguin
Pandolfo – Peverley – Caron
Paillie – Campbell – Thornton

Chara – Boychuk
Seidenberg – Hamilton
Ferrence – McQuaid

Rask

Notes and Trash Talk…I hate the Bruins, but I hate the Canucks more, so I’ll always be a bit grateful for them beating Vancouver in the 2010 Cup Finals, allowing the Jets to become the first Canadian Team to win The Cup since the 90’s…Tuuka Rask will be in net tonight…Boston’s PK is #1 in the League, working at an amazing 93.1% clip…Lucky Jet Fans take note – David Krejci is unlikely to play with a lower body injury. We can assume he’s just scared of facing Zach Bogosian…The Bruins are 6-3-1 in their last 10…Patrice Bergeron leads the league in FO% with a stunning 61.9% success rate.

Seriously Important Information

Gametime is 7:00 Winnipeg Time, 9:30 Newfoundland time. Winnipeggers can catch the game on TSN, well out of towners can listen (and apparantly watch!!) live on TSN Radio here.

5 Predictions

One of the Game commentators will make reference to the fact that Blake Wheeler is going up against his old team.
Alex Burmistrov will work his butt off. Might even score.
Everytime the Jets score, I’m going to text my buddy who’s a Bruin fan some serious trash talk. As should you.
Claude Noel will resign after the game to accept a role on ‘Mad Men’.
Zach Bogosian scores again and continues his late season push for the Rocket Richard Trophy.

In Conclusion

This is a Game both teams need. In fact, as the season winds down, pretty much every game will have the same tone to it. The Bruins may have won the last 2 matchups, but, like Stella, the Jets have found got their groove back of late, and I fully expect a diffirent result tonight.