Usually the Garden fares well for the Bruins where they lost just 6 games in the 2008-09 season. So far the B’s haven’t tasted that home cooking with 3 loses in five games already this season. Although their 5 points are just one less than last season after five games, it has been an up and down battle. The Bruins hit the road tonight for the first time in the 2010 run at the Stanley Cup hoping to bond as a team on this short 2 game trip.
Early on we have seen a lot on inconsistency with this years squad and Tim Thomas has not looked like the Vezina trophy winner of 2009 having a .868 save percentage. We have seen this team go from looking like a Junior “C” team to the Stanley Cup contenders they were just one year ago. The loss of P J Axelson on the penalty kill has also hurt the Bruins as they have given up 8 goals on 26 times short handed and the power play has been non-existent ranked 25th in the League.
So what do the Bruins need to do tonight in Dallas against the undefeated Stars? They need to play a physical game from start to finish, for the exception of the Carolina game, we have not seen a solid 60 minute effort yet. The B’s also need to protect Tim Thomas in front of the net, Dallas has averaged 4 goals per game so far with the Bruins only averaging 3 goals for and 3.8 against.
Claude Julien has shaken the lines up tonight to try to spark the offense. The new combination’s might have Marc Savard centering Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder, and David Krejci in the middle of Milan Lucic and Blake Wheeler.
