[11.10.09] Pittsburgh Penguins @ Boston Bruins

Written by Greg Ezell

Tuesday, 10 November 2009 08:35

Thomas needs to be a brick wall tonight

The Boston Bruins (7-7-2) will square off against the Pittsburgh Penguins (12-5-0) in the TD Garden tonight. The last time the Bruins hit the ice, they wiped the floor with the Buffalo Sabres to the tune of 4-2 domination. The Penguins are licking their wounds after a 5-0 whooping at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.

The Penguins are without Evegni Malkin, Maxim Talbot and defenseman Sergei Gonchar, but took another hit with defenseman Kris Letang; who is now out with an upper-body injury suffered against the Sharks.

Despite these loses, the Penguins are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games and still playing well (sans the 5-0 beating).

Bruins Keys To Winning

1. Tough forecheck

The Penguins, even without Malkin and Talbot, still have some very good forwards. I don't know if you've ever heard of this Sidney Crosby kid, but he's pretty good. A hard and heavy forecheck should neutralize the Penguins attack, or at least slow it down.

2. Timmy MUST continue his current play
Tim Thomas has played well the last handful of games he's played in. Here's a quick breakdown of Thomas' last 3 games:
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vs. Montreal 25 saves on 26 shots
@ Detroit 24 saves on 26 shots

@ New York Rags 22 saves on 23 shots
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Not a bad three games, especially when only giving up 4 goals. If Thomas can continue this type of play, it'll have to put pressure on the offense to get something going.

3. Keep the specialty teams out of being special
Bad joke, FTW. Seriously though, the Bruins need to continue their run of a good penalty kill and an emerging power play to even think of staying in the game with Pittsburgh. On the power play, they need to continue sticking someone in front of the net and having said guy create screens and tipping pucks. On the PK, guys like Begin and Paille need to be as effective as they have been.

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In Case You Forgot

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Prediction:

Pittsburgh Penguins: 2
Boston Bruins: 3

OVERTIME WIN!

crosby-crib

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