Pregame notes: Bruins vs. Sabres 4/16/13

The Boston Bruins will be playing with “heavy hearts” tonight, as many inside locker room called it, as this is the first professional sports game to be played in Boston since the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, April 15.

As a safety precaution the Garden has maximized its security for the game and expects fans to arrive earlier than usual. They’re also not allowing any bags inside the building tonight.

Fans should expect an emotional pregame as the organization has a lot planned for the TD Garden tonight. Both Bruins and Sabres players will be wearing a special blue and yellow “Boston Strong” ribbon decal on their helmets for the game tonight. There will likely be a moment of silence as well as a Boston Strong video played prior to puck drop.

According to Comcast Sportsnet’s Joe Haggerty, Bruins players have donated 80 tickets for tonight’s game to the first responders. Brad Marchand announced that he will be raffling off his suite for the playoffs, and all proceeds will be donated to Martin Richards’ family, the 8-year-old who lost his life on Monday.

“Hopefully we can take people’s minds off what happened and give them some sense of relief,” Shawn Thornton told the media.

In the most emotional game of the season, the Boston Bruins will be looking to defeat the Buffalo Sabres and finally clinch a playoff spot.

Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron return to the lineup tonight after suffering mild and moderate concussions not too long ago. Carl Soderberg also joined the B’s today for their morning skate but will be sitting out of the lineup tonight. Wade Redden gets his first start while Adam McQuaid and Matt Bartkowski will get a night to rest.

The Bruins vowed to go out and play their hearts out for the victims and all those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week. Boston is in mourning and all of this is still so raw, the Bruins will do anything they can to bring happiness to these people.

Project lines

Marchand – Bergeron – Seguin
Campbell – Krejci – Jagr
Paille – Kelly – Horton
Lucic – Peverley – Thornton

Chara – Boychuk
Seidenberg – Hamilton
Redden –Ference

Khudobin

Final thoughts: The front of the jersey is really gonna mean a hell of a lot tonight.

Pregame notes: Bruins vs. Maple Leafs 3/25/13

In the second half of the home-at-home between Boston and Toronto, the Bruins will be looking to avenge their rare loss to the division rival Maple Leafs. The B’s fell to Toronto by a score of 3-2 on Saturday night after allowing a season-low 13 shots on goal. Anton Khudobin wasn’t looking his sharpest as he gave up the 3 goals on those 13 shots. Going into the match-up, the Bruins had a 20-5-5 record against Toronto dating back to 2007. To put it simply, the B’s just don’t lose to Toronto very often. But let’s look at it this way, the last time the Bruins lost to the Leafs (March 31, 2011 – a 4-3 shootout loss) the B’s went on to win the Stanley Cup. Maybe it’s a sign?

Pregame Notes: Bruins vs. Capitals 3/5/13

Let’s cut to the chase: it’s time to bounce back. After suffering a frustrating and narrow defeat to rival Montreal, the Bruins will be looking to pick themselves up and dust themselves off as they face off against the Washington Capitals. After last year’s playoffs, there’s a little more spice to this match-up. The Capitals knocked out the B’s in overtime of Game 7 in the first round. Now, the B’s and Caps will be facing off for the first time this season. Now let’s not let last year sway us. The Bruins and Capitals are in two very different places right now. Boston is riding a 14-3-2 record and are arguably the strongest team in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Capitals hold a pathetic 8-11-1 record with only 17 points on the season. Although despite the record, Washington has been improving and are never a team you can look past.

Pre-game notes: Rangers vs. Bruins 1/23/13

I would like to take a moment and say how happy I am the Bruins are back and how difficult it is to type this on my phone. Challenge accepted.  Let’s talk hockey. So far the B’s have started the season with a bang. After beating the Rangers in the home opener and skating away with a shoot out win in a matinee game, the Bruins head away from arctic Boston to New York City for a 7:30pm match up against the Rangers.

After the break, see the projected lines and prediction for tonight’s game.

Pre-game Notes Round 1: Capitals vs. Bruins-Game Five 4/21/12

The Bruins and Capitals are all tied up in the series as we enter game five, today in Boston. One one team so far has been eliminated in the playoffs, with many other teams in the same deadlock as the B’s. The Bruins return to the Garden faithful and hope to find the offensive spark that has eluded them for much of this series. Julien is going to shake things up with the lines today, hoping to find a combination that will produce the results the team and the fans want. The twenty-two year old goaltender for the Capitals, Braden Holtby, has had a lot of stellar performances during the playoffs so far, so the Bruins will have to find his weak spot and throw a lot of good shots at net today. Last game, Holtby stopped 44 out of 45 shots. The Bruins have only scored before the Capitals once this series, and that was the thrilling OT goal by Chris Kelly in Game One.

Pre-game Notes Round 1: Capitals vs. Bruins-Game Two 4/14/12

If you’re a Bruins fan, you’re probably feeling pretty good about how the last two days have unfolded. Chris Kelly saved the day and took Game One for the Bruins on Thursday, and last night both the Penguins and Vancouver lost on home ice. As nice as it is to enjoy another team’s misery, we have more important things to worry about today. Game Two of the Quarterfinals will be going down today at the Garden, and its fully expected to be a battle to the end. If its anything like Game 1 was, its going to be a very long series. This is an important win for the Bruins, as it will give them a 2 game lead and momentum heading into Washington D.C.

Pre-game Notes Round 1: Capitals vs. Bruins – Game One 4/12/12

Ladies and gentlemen it is time for the playoffs. We ladies here at Crashing the Net are going to be very busy over the next couple weeks (and hopefully next couple of months). As you all probably know, our Boston Bruins are facing the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.

Although the Caps hold a season series edge over the B’s, I’d like to say Boston has the edge going into this series. We’ve got depth, solid defense and strong goaltending. It’s important to note that the Capitals will be starting rookie, third-string goaltender Braden Holtby. Tonight is Holtby’s first playoff game. It’s very important for the Bruins to expose his weaknesses, attack at all angles. Treat this kid like he’s the greatest goaltender in the world because you’re just asking to lose if you take him lightly.

Pre-game notes: Sabres vs Bruins 4/7/12

We have finally reached the end of a record-breaking season for the Boston Bruins. With both their ups and downs, we have had many players reach the 20+ goal mark, several hat tricks, shut outs, and a lot of fighting majors. The Bruins are set to face the Buffalo Sabres in what should be a great afternoon game. This season, the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins have had quite the history form between these two teams. It all started with Milan Lucic’s run into Ryan Miller when Miller was out in the middle of no where on the ice. Ever since, the Sabres have tried to get back at the Bruins. I expect a pretty rowdy game to occur between these two teams as they face off at 4pm.

And if you’re in the Boston area, don’t forget that today is Fan Appreciation Day! There will be a lot of festivities to check out so go nuts.

Pre-game Notes: Penguins vs Bruins 4/3/12

To be perfectly honest with you guys, this pre-game is probably going to be half-assed because nothing matters anymore. The playoff spot is ours,  the division is ours, at this point the B’s just need to get through the remaining three games without anymore injuries. Pittsburgh however, is still vying for #1 spot in the East. Thats likely not to happen, the Rangers have 107, Penguins with 102, each with 3 games left. The Rangers would have to lose all 3 games and the Penguins would have to win all 3 to end the season with 108.  Its possible, but hard to imagine that the Rangers are going to drop the last three games of their season. Anyway, who cares since our division is clinched. Focus for tonight is no one get hurt.

Pre-game Notes: Islanders vs Bruins 3/31/12

Apologies for the lack of post-game notes the other night. I was actually at the game and the rest of us were pretty busy I think so it just sort of slipped our minds. Hard to keep up with these when there’s games every other day!

Anyway, the Bruins failed to clinch a playoff spot the other night versus Washington, but by virtue of the Penguins beating the Sabres last night, our boys are officially in the hunt to repeat. I guess it kind of would have been nice if they could have clinched a spot themselves but for the most part they are in control of their own destiny. Time to lock up the division and maintain home-ice advantage.