The Bruins are back from their western Canada road trip, defending their home ice from the Calgary Flames
The Bruins are now at 39-12-12, putting them 1st in the Atlantic, and 1st in the league, 5 points ahead of the Tampa. And also 8 points ahead of the Caps.
Last time, on Bruins hockey…
The Bruins went to Vancouver, to face the Canucks.
It would not go as expected
The Canucks would trash the Bruins by a score of 9-3.
I’m not going to dig out highlights from this game – it was miserable & disappointing.
Fortunately, the Lightning, Toronto & Florida also faceplanted spectacularly and the status quo has been maintained.
Today is Joakim Nordstrom’s birthday. He’s 28 today.
Happy birthday, Nordy.
Happy Birthday, @Jo92No! 🎂#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/q9XpjjvsKY
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 25, 2020
We are also celebrating Jaroslav Halak’s 500th NHL game, which actually happened a couple of weeks back, but hey, give the man his props. The team will have a 7PM ceremony celebrating the netminder.
UPDATE: Before tonight’s game against the Calgary Flames, Jaroslav Halak will be honored with a pregame ceremony marking his 500th career NHL game. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/qLuHtyNiZ0
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 25, 2020
What will be the lineup today?
Well, there are some interesting new faces to consider
Anton Blidh is still with the team.
Brett Ritchie is still in Providence.
David Backes has been traded to Anaheim and Ondrej Kase has joined the Bruins with one year left on his contract. Kase has had some injury issues and is currently battling a flu. He has been talking to the media in Boston, but will not play tonight.
Danton Heinen has also been traded for Nick Ritchie, brother of Brett Ritchie.
No word on any interest in Lionel Ritchie.
The Bruins were also reportedly interested in Kyle Palmieri
err… moving on.
Injured defensemen Kevan Miller (fractured kneecap) “has no timeline” for his season debut, but has been skating on his own. Connor Clifton has been skating and has been sent to Providence on a conditioning stint, and returned to Boston.
Nick Ritchie has been on the wing of the Coyle line. Blidh has alternated with Nordy on the 4th line. I’m hearing that neither will skate tonight.
Tuukka Rask will be in net today.
| Bruins Forward Lines | ||
|---|---|---|
 Brad Marchand |
 Patrice Bergeron |
 David Pastrnak |
 Jake DeBrusk |
 David Krejci |
 Karson Kuhlman |
 Nick Ritchie |
 Charlie Coyle |
 Anders Bjork |
 Sean Kuraly |
 Par Lindholm |
 Chris Wagner |
| Bruins Defensive pairs | ||
 Zdeno Chara |
 Charlie McAvoy |
|
 Torey Krug |
 Brandon Carlo |
|
 Matt Grzelcyk |
 Jeremy Lauzon |
|
| Bruins Goaltending | ||
| #40 Tuukka Rask | (#41 Jaroslav Halak) |
The Calgary Flames are the opponents of the evening. They are tied for 4th in NHL Pacific Division with a record of 32-25-6 (70 points). They are 3-3-0 in their last six tilts, including a game against the Bruins where they ran up a two goal lead in record time, then the Bruins evened up by the end of the 1st period. The Bruins would win the game by 1 goal.
The Flames made a couple of acquisitions at the trade deadline – defenseman Derek Forbort from the Kings and defenseman Erik Gustafsson from the Blackhawks, both in exchange for draft picks – both will play tonight.
Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk are the most prolific scorers, with 27 & 20 goals, and Johnny Gaudreau is a playmaking machine. They play a fast game, score a lot and let a lot of goals in their own net.
Travis Hamonic (Illness) is on IR. Juuso Valimaki is on long-term injured reserve with a torn ACL.
Flames team captain, Mark Giordano returns from his hamstring injury tonight.
(h/t Calgary broadcast guy Derek Wills):
Flames Forwards
#13 Johnny Gaudreau — #23 Sean Monahan — #28 Elias Lindholm
#88 Andrew Mangiapane — #11 Mikael Backlund — #19 Matthew Tkachuk
#17 Milan Lucic — #10 Derek Ryan — #29 Dillon Dube
#93 Sam Bennett — #77 Mark Jankowski — #16 Tobias Rieder
Flames Defense
#55 Noah Hanifin — #4 Rasmus Andersson
#7 T.J. Brodie — #26 Michael Stone
#20 Derek Forbort — #56 Erik Gustafsson
Flames Goaltending
#33 David Rittich
(#39 Cam Talbot)
Yuck… that oughta do it.
Yeah baby!!!! Wags!!!
Hey!!!
Just got home!! Go Bruins!!
I love that we now have 3 elite penalty-killing centers in Bergeron, Krejci, Coyle.
Where was Bergy on that shift?
Hope that was just a line change anomaly.
Stone?
So Giordano was a late scratch, huh?
Yeah last minute decision. Jack mentioned it in passing.
The boys looking a lot sharper than at the weekend!
Hello!
Didn’t Brett Richie score the first goal of the season? Maybe his brother can get one on his debut as well.
Hello!
And I believe you are correct about the lesser Ritchie!