Effing Boston. The world's most grumpy, stay off our lawn, retrograde hockey club comes to town for their first matchup of the young season with the Hurricanes and it just has to be a couple of days after the stupid Red Sox win the World Series. Chowd Nation will be in the full bloom of their self important jackassery. Great.
So, Boston. They had high hopes for the season, but then again ... this is the Bruins and they think they're winning the Cup every year. Even when they suck. The start has been good but not great. They sit at 6-3-2 so far, which is one OT loss better than the Canes. Their offense hasn't really gotten much traction early on, as they sit in the middle of the league in goals scored. But this team is built on D and that's been better ... they currently sit 3rd in goals against. Pasternak, Bergeron and Marchand have gotten off to strong starts for them, but the current Bs are pretty top heavy so they HAVE to get production out of those top two lines. Much is being made locally of the Bruins' intention to start the backup, Halak, tonight ... but in truth, he and Rask have split time this year and Halak's numbers are MUCH better. So, don't buy that hype.
So, Carolina. Coming off of a pretty miserable loss to the Islanders straight into another defense-first Atlantic Division opponent probably isn't the ideal situation for the young Canes. Plus, Boston lives to erase the first line and make your depth beat them, which is precisely where Carolina has struggled since things have settled into actual trends this season. No word on Darling's return to the net, but personally I think this would be a bad time to test his readiness. There's a road trip coming. Let the guy break into the swing of things without the pressure of possibly letting down the home crowd. Then again, the crowd tonight with be heavy with Black and Gold sweaters .... especially in my section ... which brings me back to the tone of my opening paragraph. Aho is riding a season long point streak and could tie Gretzky for the longest streak to start a season. You know he's going to have a mug full of Marchand all night tonight. Brindy has made a lot fo noise about not tinkering with the lines so I don't expect much in that department. It's really just the decision in net that seems an open question.
We're back on a normal start time, in the normal home uniforms against a very predictable but tough to beat opponent. Go ... endure, I mean enjoy.
So, Boston. They had high hopes for the season, but then again ... this is the Bruins and they think they're winning the Cup every year. Even when they suck. The start has been good but not great. They sit at 6-3-2 so far, which is one OT loss better than the Canes. Their offense hasn't really gotten much traction early on, as they sit in the middle of the league in goals scored. But this team is built on D and that's been better ... they currently sit 3rd in goals against. Pasternak, Bergeron and Marchand have gotten off to strong starts for them, but the current Bs are pretty top heavy so they HAVE to get production out of those top two lines. Much is being made locally of the Bruins' intention to start the backup, Halak, tonight ... but in truth, he and Rask have split time this year and Halak's numbers are MUCH better. So, don't buy that hype.
So, Carolina. Coming off of a pretty miserable loss to the Islanders straight into another defense-first Atlantic Division opponent probably isn't the ideal situation for the young Canes. Plus, Boston lives to erase the first line and make your depth beat them, which is precisely where Carolina has struggled since things have settled into actual trends this season. No word on Darling's return to the net, but personally I think this would be a bad time to test his readiness. There's a road trip coming. Let the guy break into the swing of things without the pressure of possibly letting down the home crowd. Then again, the crowd tonight with be heavy with Black and Gold sweaters .... especially in my section ... which brings me back to the tone of my opening paragraph. Aho is riding a season long point streak and could tie Gretzky for the longest streak to start a season. You know he's going to have a mug full of Marchand all night tonight. Brindy has made a lot fo noise about not tinkering with the lines so I don't expect much in that department. It's really just the decision in net that seems an open question.
We're back on a normal start time, in the normal home uniforms against a very predictable but tough to beat opponent. Go ... endure, I mean enjoy.