Game Thirty-Three (Live on NESN(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (16-10-6) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (21-8-3)
December 18th, 2009 @ 8:30PM
GAMEDAY HEADLINES:
- Tonight is the first of two games this season between these Original Six rivals. Intresting fact, before the season began Boston and Chicago were picked by many experts to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals this season. However, as many Bruins fans already know, Boston stumbled out of the gate early while the Hawks have lived up to their hype.
- This is the first of a three game road trip that will see the Bruins play the Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Senators all in the next four-days.
- According to NESN, Bob Costas will be calling all the action on January 1st joining the growing broadcast team of Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczuk, Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury.
- Bruins alum such as Cam Neely, Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr and Terry O'Reilly among others took part in a "First Skate" today @ Fenway Park. Talk about perfect conditions for some outdoor hockey... 8 degrees here in Medford last time I checked.
- The Blackhawks are in the middle of a very similar goalie situation to the Bruins. Proven(?) veteran Cristobal Huet, while not playing poorly, is in jeopardy of losing his starting job to rookie Antti Niemi who has posted a 1.50 GAA and 3-shutouts in 8-games this season. Remember folks, as with the Thomas/Tuukka situation, you are judging these goalies on only a small amount of games compared to careers of consistency. So don't jump the gun too quickly (ie: Steve Mason's 3.30 GAA this season).
- The attack of the EA Sports sim returns! According to a recent NHL 10 simulation of the Winter Classic match-up between the Bruins and Flyers, Boston will edge Philly 4-3 via a late Marc Savard goal.
- The Winter Classic countdown continues as we are only 14-days until the Bruins move from Causeway to Yawkey.
MATCHUP STAT BREAKDOWN:
| Boston Bruins | Chicago Blackhawks | |
| 16-10-6 | Record | 21-8-3 |
| 38 | Points | 45 |
| 2.47 | G/G | 2.88 |
| 2.38 | GA/G | 2.00 |
| 53.8 | Faceoff % | 53.6 |
| 17.4 | Power Play | 19.7 |
| 86.2 | Penalty Kill | 84.4 |
| -1 | +/- | 21 |
CREASE REPORT:
| PLAYER | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | SO |
| Boston Bruins | ||||||
| Tim Thomas | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2.48 | .914 | 3 |
| Tuukka Rask | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1.97 | .932 | 1 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | ||||||
| Cristobal Huet | 15 | 7 | 2 | 2.09 | .913 | 2 |
| Antti Niemi | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1.50 | .937 | 3 |
INJURY REPORT:
| PLAYER | POS | INJURY | STATUS |
| Boston Bruins | |||
| Milan Lucic | LW | Ankle | Out |
| Mark Stuart | D | Sternum | Out |
| Dennis Wideman | D | Undisclosed | Questionable |
| Chicago Blackhawks | |||
| Dave Bolland | C | Back | Out |
| Adam Burish | RW | Knee | Out |
| Cam Barker | D | Lower Body | Questionable |
