When the season was 122 days old, it became clear that the team was dead. And so MacTavish mourned and wept, seeking to somehow find consolation. And so he consulted with the scouts who love hitting and said, "Here I am, a man who tries to bring different ideas, and look at the results! Tell me what kind of trade I need to make in order to properly mourn this kind of dreadful season."
Edmonton Oilers @ Boston Bruins
TD Bank Garden, 11:00 a.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet
The Race to the Bottom (It's Happening Again):
Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Bruins have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, and are one of the few Eastern teams with a very good record against the West, going 9-4-5 in regulation. A lot of their success comes from having a dominant player on defense and capable goaltending, but the Bruins also have excellent forward depth. One of the things Craig MacTavish mentioned when he became General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers was making sure that your players are at least a marginal threat to score. The Bruins exemplify that principle well, boasting nine different forwards with at least twenty games played and half a point per game.
Expected Lineups:
Edmonton Oilers (18-32-6):
Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Perron - Gagner - Yakupov
Hendricks - Gordon - Hemsky
Joensuu - Smyth - Jones
Marincin - Petry
Ference - J Schultz
Fraser - Belov
Scrivens
Boston Bruins (34-16-3):
Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Paille - Soderberg - Eriksson
Campbell - Kelly - Thornton
Chara - Hamilton
Bartkowski - Boychuk
Miller - Krug
Rask
By The Numbers:
- The Oilers sent Mark Arcobello to OKC earlier today (unfortunately for him, he doesn't need to clear waivers). After a strong start playing on the top lines, Arcobello has just six points in his last twenty-five games after moving down the lineup, and the Oilers decided to send him out rather than demoting a player like Jesse Joensuu. That leaves Ryan Smyth playing center on the fourth line while two better options for the position toiling in the minors.
- Zdeno Chara is in the midst of his eleventh consecutive season of playing at least 24:30 per game, but Chara will be turning 37 in March. It will be very interesting to see how the Bruins transition all of those minutes over the next few seasons.
- As I'm sure we all know, Ben Scrivens set an NHL record for most saves in a regular season shutout, and in the process joined a rather exclusive group of goaltenders with a 50-save shutout in their career. Here's the rest of the group: Glenn Healy (51), Martin Brodeur (51), Craig Anderson (51, playoffs), Jonathan Quick (51), Curtis Joseph (52, in a tie), Craig Anderson (53, only one to do it twice), Mike Smith (54), Patrick Roy (63, playoffs), and Dominik Hasek (70, playoffs).