Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2018 12:54:47 GMT 1
For the first time in the 2018-19 season, the Bruins will take on their Atlantic Division foe Florida Panthers (Boston Bruins championship rings). While Florida resides at the bottom of the division standings, the B's are not taking them lightly.
"They play hard," said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. "They score. They get to the net. They give up some chances. They have a good number one power play. Very dangerous all over. Bigger team. They'll be physical when they need to be. A lot of energy. There is a lot happening with Florida, shots for and shots against. We have to make sure we take care of our details and tilt it in our favor."
The Panthers boast the 7th ranked power play in the league (Boston Bruins championship rings for sale), converting on 26.8% of their chances."It'll be good," said forward Brad Marchand about the inter-division tilt. "They have a good team, they're deep. They play a hard game. It should be a good battle. Always big points when you are playing divisional game so we have to be ready to have a good game."
Florida is led offensively by Jonathan Huberdeau. The 25-year-old has accumulated six goals and 22 assists in 25 games this season to lead the team in points (28). In net, veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo is a game time decision. At 39, Luongo is the third oldest player in the NHL (nhl championship rings) behind Zdeno Chara and Matt Cullen. In nine games this season, he has a 3.07 goals against average and a save percentage of .902.For the third consecutive game, Colby Cave is expected to center the top line between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in place of the injured Patrice Bergeron.
"It's tough when we've been playing together for a while," said Pastrnak of trying to replace Bergeron. "It's always tough when injuries are happening. You need to find a little bit different chemistry and different looks. Caver [Colby Cave] does a good job...It's not easy to fill somebody else's shoes but he's doing his best and we still need to step up and be a little bit better."While no one is expected to produce the same results as Bergeron, Cave has held his own playing between two of the Bruins most dynamic players."He's a good all around player," said Marchand. "He competes hard. He's good defensively, he wins a lot of battles. He's deceptive in the offensive zone, he can make some plays down there. I think it's getting better and I think we're continuing for that to improve."
Despite the barrage of injuries early in the season, the team has managed to continue to gain points thanks to contributions from up and down the lineup."It would be nice to have our whole team together at some point this year," said Marchand. "But I think for now we are doing a pretty good job of continuing to get points, of finding ways to win or finding ways to stay in games. We're giving ourselves an opportunity to win every night. That's what we need."
Torey Krug sat out of practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday. Cassidy noted it was a maintenance day for the 27-year-old defenseman, and he appears to be ready to take on the Panthers."Yeah he was fine…" said Cassidy after morning skate. "I think whatever he was dealing with yesterday he was fine."Charlie McAvoy is back to being a full participant in Bruins practices, but Cassidy believes he is doubtful to play on the road trip, although Cassidy would not rule it out.
"Every day he feels better is a step closer," said Cassidy. "I guess you just get used to your lineup the way it is but we miss those guys. The closer they are obviously the better our team is going to benefit. I've always said once they're practicing with the team obviously the next step is to get in the game (custom championship rings). Hopefully it's sooner rather than later."I don't see him playing Thursday but I'm not in a position to rule him out. That'll be up to the medical people."
"They play hard," said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. "They score. They get to the net. They give up some chances. They have a good number one power play. Very dangerous all over. Bigger team. They'll be physical when they need to be. A lot of energy. There is a lot happening with Florida, shots for and shots against. We have to make sure we take care of our details and tilt it in our favor."
The Panthers boast the 7th ranked power play in the league (Boston Bruins championship rings for sale), converting on 26.8% of their chances."It'll be good," said forward Brad Marchand about the inter-division tilt. "They have a good team, they're deep. They play a hard game. It should be a good battle. Always big points when you are playing divisional game so we have to be ready to have a good game."
Florida is led offensively by Jonathan Huberdeau. The 25-year-old has accumulated six goals and 22 assists in 25 games this season to lead the team in points (28). In net, veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo is a game time decision. At 39, Luongo is the third oldest player in the NHL (nhl championship rings) behind Zdeno Chara and Matt Cullen. In nine games this season, he has a 3.07 goals against average and a save percentage of .902.For the third consecutive game, Colby Cave is expected to center the top line between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in place of the injured Patrice Bergeron.
"It's tough when we've been playing together for a while," said Pastrnak of trying to replace Bergeron. "It's always tough when injuries are happening. You need to find a little bit different chemistry and different looks. Caver [Colby Cave] does a good job...It's not easy to fill somebody else's shoes but he's doing his best and we still need to step up and be a little bit better."While no one is expected to produce the same results as Bergeron, Cave has held his own playing between two of the Bruins most dynamic players."He's a good all around player," said Marchand. "He competes hard. He's good defensively, he wins a lot of battles. He's deceptive in the offensive zone, he can make some plays down there. I think it's getting better and I think we're continuing for that to improve."
Despite the barrage of injuries early in the season, the team has managed to continue to gain points thanks to contributions from up and down the lineup."It would be nice to have our whole team together at some point this year," said Marchand. "But I think for now we are doing a pretty good job of continuing to get points, of finding ways to win or finding ways to stay in games. We're giving ourselves an opportunity to win every night. That's what we need."
Torey Krug sat out of practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday. Cassidy noted it was a maintenance day for the 27-year-old defenseman, and he appears to be ready to take on the Panthers."Yeah he was fine…" said Cassidy after morning skate. "I think whatever he was dealing with yesterday he was fine."Charlie McAvoy is back to being a full participant in Bruins practices, but Cassidy believes he is doubtful to play on the road trip, although Cassidy would not rule it out.
"Every day he feels better is a step closer," said Cassidy. "I guess you just get used to your lineup the way it is but we miss those guys. The closer they are obviously the better our team is going to benefit. I've always said once they're practicing with the team obviously the next step is to get in the game (custom championship rings). Hopefully it's sooner rather than later."I don't see him playing Thursday but I'm not in a position to rule him out. That'll be up to the medical people."