About the Bruins - 04-03-12
A preview of the Bruins.
When and where: 7:30 p.m., EDT. TD Garden.
TV: Root Sports, NESN, NBC Sports Network (Outside the Pittsburgh and Boston markets), TSN2.
Record: 48-25-6, 102 points. The Bruins are in second place in the Eastern Conference and first place in the Northeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Tyler Seguin, 65 points (27 goals, 38 assists).
Last Game: 2-1 road win against the Rangers, Sunday. Tim Thomas made 33 saves for the Bruins.
Last Game against the Penguins: 5-2 road loss, March 11. James Neal had a goal and two assists for the Penguins.
Bruins Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: David Krejci (above). He has points in four of his past six games.
Ex-Penguins on the Bruins: Andrew Ference, D.
Ex-Bruins on the Penguins: Tom Fitzgerald, assistant to the general manager; Bill Guerin, player development coach; Andre Savard, professional scout.
Useless Bruins Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The last Bruins player to win an All-Star Game MVP was current Penguins executive Bill Guerin in 2001.
Best Bruins Video We Could Find: Former Bruins forward John Wensink challenging the North Stars' bench after a fight:
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Probable goaltenders: Brent Johnson (4-7-2, 3.15 GAA, .883 SV%) for the Penguins and Marty Turco (2-1-0, 3.28 GAA, .867 SV%) for the Bruins.
Injuries: For the Penguins, defenseman Ben Lovejoy (knee) is out. For the Bruins, right winger Jordan Caron (illness) and goaltender Tuukka Rask (abdominal/groin) are out. Right winger Nathan Horton (head) and center Marc Savard (head) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines and defensive pairings at today's morning skate were:
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Craig Adams - Joe Vitale - Arron Asham
Kris Letang - Paul Martin
Brooks Orpik - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Deryk Engelland
-The Bruins' expected lines are:
Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot - Chris Kelly - Brian Rolston
Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton
-Consider this a guess at their defensive pairings:
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Adam McQuaid - Torey Krug
Notes:
-The last time the Penguins played the Bruins, this happened:
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-Marc-Andre Fleury needs one win to tie Tom Barrasso's franchise record of 226 career wins.
-Dupuis has a 14-game scoring streak, the best in the NHL this season.
-Kunitz has 148 career goals and 198 career assists.
-Sullivan has 447 career assists.
-Bergeron has 398 career points.
-Krug is expected to make his NHL debut.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 7:15 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)