Although they will be dressed in their St. Patrick's Day green uniforms during the pregame, the Bruins will not need any luck to extend their winning streak to 9 games tonight. Today will be the Bruins last home game before heading on a 3 game road trip which commences in New Jersey tomorrow. After that they will head west to take on Colorado and Phoenix. Prior to going on this trip the Bruins should pick up another 2 points to take their point total to 97 over 68 games.
Why am I so confident that the Bruins will be the victors tonight? First off they are 27-7-2 on their home ice this season while their Wild opponents are 12-15-5 on the road. While you may not see a huge advantage of home ice for the Bruins, you will see a big drop in the Wild's stats when they are on the road.
The Bruins have killed 83.8% of their penalties this year. At home their PK rate is slightly less than that at 83.1%. The Wild have killed 80.6% of their penalties this year and have one of the leagues worst percentages (78.6) on the road.
When it comes to scoring on penalties the success rate of both teams is a little closer. The Bruins have scored 20.8% of the time on their home ice while the Wild have scored 18.4% on the road.
Overall the Bruins have scored a lot more goals than the Wild (213-157) this season. If you look at both teams since the Olympic Break, the discrepancy gets even greater. Since the Olympic Break the Bruins have average 3.9 goals and 2.1 goals against per game. During that same time frame, the Wild have averaged 2.4 goals and 2.1 goals against. If we discount the first two games since the break, the Wild's goals scored drops slightly to 2.3 and goals against increases to 2.7. The Bruins' goals scored increases to 4.1 and their goals against drops to 1.5.
If you can't remember the last time the Bruins faced the Wild, that's okay since it's been over two years. While the Wild are currently on a bit of a OT loss streak right now, they do have a six game winning streak going at the Boston Garden. In fact, the Wild have never lost a game in Boston and are 10-1-0 against the Bruins overall. This winning streak at the Garden is the streak that will come to a stop tonight.
Johnny Boychuck will not be in the Bruins' lineup this evening as he was too sore to skate this morning. It is expected that Tuukka Rask will be in net for the Bruins. Two rookies will be leading the way for the Wild. Darcy Kuemper will be in net for the Wild and has a .924 save percentage to go with his 12-4-4 record. Sixteen Justin Fontaine will play his first game since March 3rd.
When it comes to scoring on penalties the success rate of both teams is a little closer. The Bruins have scored 20.8% of the time on their home ice while the Wild have scored 18.4% on the road.
Overall the Bruins have scored a lot more goals than the Wild (213-157) this season. If you look at both teams since the Olympic Break, the discrepancy gets even greater. Since the Olympic Break the Bruins have average 3.9 goals and 2.1 goals against per game. During that same time frame, the Wild have averaged 2.4 goals and 2.1 goals against. If we discount the first two games since the break, the Wild's goals scored drops slightly to 2.3 and goals against increases to 2.7. The Bruins' goals scored increases to 4.1 and their goals against drops to 1.5.
If you can't remember the last time the Bruins faced the Wild, that's okay since it's been over two years. While the Wild are currently on a bit of a OT loss streak right now, they do have a six game winning streak going at the Boston Garden. In fact, the Wild have never lost a game in Boston and are 10-1-0 against the Bruins overall. This winning streak at the Garden is the streak that will come to a stop tonight.
Johnny Boychuck will not be in the Bruins' lineup this evening as he was too sore to skate this morning. It is expected that Tuukka Rask will be in net for the Bruins. Two rookies will be leading the way for the Wild. Darcy Kuemper will be in net for the Wild and has a .924 save percentage to go with his 12-4-4 record. Sixteen Justin Fontaine will play his first game since March 3rd.
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