The return of Marc Savard will help boost these numbers as the B’s have struggled in the goal department. Tonight Savard is expected to center Byron Bitz and Marco Sturm.

One thing through the Bruins remain consistent on this season is goal-tending. Tim Thomas started out a little shaky, well to Thomas standards but quickly got his game back. With Thomas nursing a minor undisclosed injury, nothing has changed between the pipes. The addition of  Tuukka Rask who got the promotion from Providence this season has stepped into the line up and has won his last 2 games and has a 5-2-1 record with a 2.31 GAA and a .917 sv%.

The Bruins have a tough stretch this week as they will play 4 games in the next 6 days,  facing the Wild, Devils and Senators after St.Louis tonight. The Boston Globe reported last week that Peter Chiarelli will wait until injured first-line forwards Milan Lucic and Marc Savard return to the lineup before he makes any big trades. With all the key players back, this will be the time to evaluate what this 2009-10 Bruins team is made of.

This is great news for the struggling Bruins as they have been lacking the offensive power that Savard brings to the team. In Milan Lucic’s absence, Shawn Thorton has taken over the enforcer role for the Bruins as he has been in a fight in his last 5 games. Even though Lucic appears to be returning this week, don’t expect to see him dropping the gloves any time soon as he needs to let his broken finger heal completely.

Although the Bruins have struggled lately, they are still managing a .500 record with out the two stars that have been sidelined for over a month. If nothing else, the return of Savard and Lucic will be a confidence builder in the locker room for the rest of the squad.  The B’s hit the road for four games starting Thursday with stops in Atlanta, Buffalo, St.Louis and Minnesota before returning home for their annual noon time start the day after Thanksgiving.

Quickly things changed as the Panthers vs Bruins turned into a Thomas vs Tomas as the two goaltenders were stopping everything thrown at them. More often than not if you see a scoreless game after 60 minutes with a team like Florida, you think…..what a boring game. This time was a different story, the two teams had an action packed game and the Bruins were clearly the more dominant team. Shawn Thorton got into his 3rd fight in 3 games taking on Florida’s Bryan Allen and give the win to Thorton on that one.

Tomas Vokoun stood on his head especially in the second period when the B’s had out-shot the Panthers 19-1 in that middle frame and stopping all 40 shots he faced through OT. Although Tim Thomas didn’t see nearly as many shots, he was equally as good coming up huge in more that one occasion and sealing his 2nd consecutive shut out with 4 seconds left in overtime as he made his 23rd save of the night. 65 minutes played and not a goal to be had.

The game goes to a shoot out and Thomas made a carnival like save as the puck hit the post, off his leg, dropped on the goal line as he swept it away with his blocker…did you get all that? The stale mate continued as Vokoun stuffed all 3 Boston shooters. The shootout then went to sudden death as Vokoun robs Michael Ryder with a huge glove save. It came down to Florida when Corey Stillman takes Thomas deep and beats him with back hand.What a heart breaker as Thomas gets a shut out loss out of the deal and Florida steals one in Boston.

USA Olympic hockey fans are anxiously awaiting for New Years day when the announcement of who will be playing for their team that will go to Vancouver in February and a lot of the Focus has been on who will play net for team USA. Tim Thomas was the hands on favorite when this season started but Buffalo’s Ryan Miller has a strong case for himself with his 9-1-1 start.

Buffalo made a huge mistake underestimating the low scoring Bruins when they gave Ryan Miller a night off and obviously didn’t see that the B’s peppered Corey Price two nights ago with 43 shots and the Sabres paid the price tonight…no pun intended.

The Bruins scored early and often with one of their best efforts of the season and they shocked the Northeast Leading Sabre’s. Recci scored a pp goal just over 3 minutes into the game ending their 0 for 20 drought.  The injury plagued B’s found a way to hit, shoot, and score. Shawn Thorton showed Buffalo what the Big Bad Bruins were all about  as he literally pounded the white shirts including two fights, taking on Montador in the first period and then sticking up for line mate Byron Bitz, Thorton took on Paul Gaustad in the third. Shortly after that fight, Mark Stuart took offense to Jochen Hecht coming in high on Tuukka Rask as the got into a Scrum.

The Bruins physical play and once again solid goaltending gave them the success they needed as they ended their 3 game skid and handed Buffalo their 3rd loss in 4 games.

Sports fans have their work cut out for them tonight to try to keep track of all the action across the nation. Put the NHL aside, you have a loaded schedule of college football, and there is that little baseball game happening tonight as well (put a whammy on those damn Yankees).

Highlighting tonight’s match ups would be the Penguins going for their 8th straight victory after Crosby scores all 3 goals to lead to their dramatic come from behind win in shoot out last night against the Florida Panthers.

The walking wounded Boston Bruins have literally had a up and down season alternating wins and losses every other game and hope that pattern continues at least for tonight as they lost in Philly Thursday night in a shootout. Look for Shawn Thorton in the lineup tonight …well at least that’s what his V-Blog says. If you ask coach Julien, he says it will be a game time decision. As you know , he was supposed to return the other night and was a last minute scratch. The Bruins are stating Thorton has an undisclosed injury. What is this the playoffs? Although Tuukka Rask played exceptionally good Thursday night, look for Thomas in net. Timmy has been a thorn in Ottawa’s side as he has won 7 in a row against the Sens with a 1.27 gaa in those games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs still the only team without a victory this year visit Vancouver where the last time they have posted a win at GM Place was 6 years ago. At this point, you may want to keep all sharp objects away from Kessel.

The slumping Carolina Hurricanes losers of 5 straight will lose Tuomo Ruutu as he was handed a three game suspension for a boarding infraction on Colorado’s Darcy Tucker in Friday nights game. Tucker was injured on the play with a concussion and also received 40 stitches.

The B’s have three games in the next four nights and this will be a good test on what this squad will bring us this season. With Lucic out for the next 4-6 weeks, the rest of the team needs to bring their toughness to the rink tonight. Peter Chiarelli has sent a message with the recent trade of Kobesaw, the Bruins GM is trying to shake things up.

The Bruins acquired forward Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres for a third round pick in 2010 and a conditional 4th round pick in 2010. The 6 foot 197 pound Paille has 35 goals, 42 assists and 54 pim in the 195 games played in the NHL but has played only appeared in 2 games for the Sabres this season. Hard to believe but this marks the first ever trade between the two franchises.

The good news for the B’s would be that Shawn Thorton who was listed day to day should return tonight. Look for Thorton to play on the 4th line with Begin and Bitz. More good news may be defenseman Dennis Wideman who has been sidelined since October 10th could also return tonight. With the acquisition of Paille and the return of Thorton and Wideman, the B’s have assigned Lefebrve to Providence.