Bruins Shouldn't Rest Till Home Ice is Clinched

Bruins @ Islanders, 1
The Buffalo Sabres loss last night allowed the Bruins to clinch a playoff spot, but they have yet to clinch the division. Home ice advantage is always a priority in the playoffs, and remaining in the 1st spot in the division will be important for the Bruins psyche going into the playoffs. Just because they have clinched, they should not slack off. Let's hope they continue to play hard to carry good momentum into the postseason. Today will be their 4th and final game with the Islanders this season. The Bruins have won 2 out of 3 so far. Those 2 wins both came during the Bruins hot streak in November, and Nathan Horton played a major role in both wins. Earlier this month, the Bruins fought back to tie the game at 2 only to give up the game-winning goal to John Tavares late in the 3rd period. This was during their cold streak, though, so I expect not to see the same kind of mistakes today. Nabokov absolutely stole the game last time around, but the Bruins were also experiencing a crisis of scoring over that period of time. In the same situations today, out of the previous funk, one would hope that the Bruins would not let Nabokov run away with the game like that.

In other news, McQuaid won't play, but Seidenberg will be back. Unfortunately, Joe Corvo will probably play again today despite being awful at everything.

Previous Meetings
11/7 @ BOS	Bruins 6-2
11/9 @ NYI	Bruins 6-0
3/3 @ BOS	Isles 3-2

	Bruins	Isles
Record	45 - 28 - 4	33 - 33 -11
Points	94	77
Div/Conf	1st/2nd	5th/13th
Last 10	5 - 4 - 1	5 - 3 - 2
G/G	3.16 (3rd)	2.38 (27th)
GA/G	2.42 (5th)	2.94 (27th)
PP%	17.2% (15th)	19.3 (6th)
PK%	83.4% (11th)	81.5% (20th)
Shots/G	32.6 (3rd)	29.5 (17th)
SA/G	29.7 (12th)	30.2 (16th)
FO%	54.5% (1st)	48.1 (1st)
SHG	8	4
SHGA	1	5
G +/-	+62 (1st)	-40 (27th)
5v5 G/GA	1.31 (3rd)	0.76 (30th)
Shootouts	8 - 3	7 - 4
Score 1st W%	84.3% (1st)	57.9% (24th)
Trail 1st W%	38.6% (10th)	28.2% (21st)
Outshooting W%	51.1% (14th)	41.0% (26th)
Outshot W%	70.0% (1st)	42.9% (25th)

Game 1

• Bruins PP: 1/1
• Bruins PK: 4/4
• Bruins Shots: 37
• Isles Shots: 26
• Notes: Peverley didn't play

Prd	Bruins Goals	Isles Goals
1	Pouliot (Caron)
1		Moulson (Staois, Grabner)
1	Horton (PPG) (Chara, Krejci)
1	Seguin (Bergeron, Marchand)
1		Grabner (Tavares, Moulson)
3	Lucic (Horton, Krejci)
3	Horton (Corvo, Seienberg)
3	Krejci (EN) (Chara, Lucic)
Bruins Goalie		Isles Goalie
Rask		DiPietro
3 stars
1	Kelly
2	Thomas
3	Horton

Game 2

• Bruins PP: 1/5
• Bruins PK: 1/1
• Bruins Shots: 30
• Isles Shots: 23
• Notes: Nabokov was out with injury

Prd	Bruins Goals	Isles Goals
1	Bergeron (Seguin, Marchand)
1	Horton (PPG)
1	Kelly
3	Ference (Corvo, Kelly)
3	Kelly (Lucic, Horton)
3	Chara (Marchand, Campbell)
Bruins Goalie		Isles Goalie
Rask		DiPietro
3 stars
1	Kelly
2	Thomas
3	Horton

Game 3

• Bruins PP: 1/5
• Bruins PK: 2/3
• Bruins Shots: 34
• Isles Shots: 25
• Notes: Ference didn't play; Rask left game in 1st with injury

Prd	Bruins Goals	Isles Goals
1	Lucic (PPG) (Rolston, Corvo)
1		Bailey (Nielsen, Ullstrom)
2		Moulson (PPG) (Nielsen, Tavares)
3	Seguin (Chara, Krejci)
3		Tavares (Moulson, MacDonald)
Bruins Goalie		Isles Goalie
Thomas		Nabokov
3 stars
1	Nabokov
2	Tavares
3	Seguin

Other Notes
Seguin leads the Bruins scoring with 61 points; Tavares leads the Isles with 64. Seguin and Marchand both have 26 goals; Moulson has 34. Bergeron has 38 assists; Parenteau has 49.