Bruins week ahead: Bruins look to bounce back after ugly loss
After alternating wins and losses in their last seven games, the Bruins will look to string some victories together in a busy week where they play four times in three different cities.
The Black and Gold kicked the week off Monday afternoon and once again came out flat against the last place New York Islanders. Tuukka Rask was pulled for the second time in as many games against the Islanders in what was a 4-0 loss Monday afternoon at TD Garden.
Let’s take a closer look at the week ahead:
Wednesday at Detroit, 8 p.m.
The Bruins will head to Joe Louis Arena for their final regular season game at the historic home of the Red Wings. The way things have looked thus far in Detroit, it appears as if the Red Wings’ record streak of 25 straight playoff appearances is set to come to an end in 2016-17.
The Wings find themselves just two points ahead of the Islanders in the race for last in the East. Only the Buffalo Sabres sit between the two teams.
In late October, the Bruins blanked the Red Wings 1-0 behind Rask’s 24 saves, the only meeting between the two division rivals so far this season. Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday night with a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Goaltending has been an issue for the Red Wings as Jimmy Howard has appeared in just 17 games. Back in late December, Howard was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. The former UMaine standout was playing well prior to his injury with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. With Howard out of the lineup, Petr Mrazek and Jared Coreau have failed to pick up the slack. Both have goals-against averages above three.
Friday vs. Chicago, 7:00PM
In a rare Friday night home game, the Bruins host the high-powered Chicago Blackhawks in their first of two meetings this season. After wins in four straight, Chicago has lost it’s last two, being outscored 9-2 in the process. The Blackhawks play just once prior to Friday’s meeting, a Tuesday night tilt in Colorado against the Avalanche.
To the surprise of no one, the Hawks’ deep offense has been led by Patrick Kane, who leads the team in assists with 33 and points with 47. The Hawks have also received big contributions from second year forward Artemi Panarin, who leads the team with 17 goals and sits second in points with 43.
After their loss to the red-hot Wild Sunday, the Blackhawks allowed Minnesota to jump into sole possession of first in the west, breaking their tie with Chicago.
It’s been a slow season so far for Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews who has missed some time due to injury. The always-dangerous Toews has just seven goals and 21 points in 37 games.
Sunday at Pittsburgh, 3:00PM
In the first of two Boston-Pittsburgh sporting events on Sunday, the Bruins travel to the ‘Steel City’ for the final time this season. The B’s played very well in Pittsburgh on December 14, but ultimately fell to the defending Stanley Cup Champions in overtime, 4-3.
The Bruins may be getting the Penguins at the right time, though. Losers of their last three and with a stretch of four games in seven days coming up, the Bruins will look to capitalize on what should be a tired Penguins team.
The Penguins will be without top defenseman Kris Letang who was placed on injured reserve Monday morning after suffering an apparent lower-body injury Saturday night in Detroit. Letang got tangled up with Red Wings forward Thomas Vanek and left grabbing his left knee. The veteran blue-liner logged just over 26 minutes and finished a minus-2 in the Penguins’ meeting with the Bruins last month.
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