This should be a weird afternoon.
Just the facts
When: Today, 3 PM
Where: Amalie Arena – Tampa, FL
How to follow: ABC, ESPN+, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Opposing perspective: Raw Charge
Know your enemy
- 37-21-4, 78PTS, 3rd in the Atlantic Division
- Nikita Kucherov: 28G-64A-92PTS; Brandon Hagel: 30G-40A-70PTS; Brayden Point: 32G-33A-65PTS
- Andrei Vasilevskiy: 30-16-3, 2.24 GAA, .922 save percentage
Game notes
- Believe it or not, the Bruins still have hockey to play this season! 18 games of hockey, in fact. Game 1 of 18 of this weird “new era” begins today, with a visit to Amalie Arena.
- The Lightning are currently third in the division, but remain firmly in shouting distance of the top spot. They’re just three points behind and have a game in hand on the Panthers; the second place Leafs are just a point ahead.
- Tampa stocked up at the trade deadline, acquiring Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from Seattle. Bjorkstrand scored the game-winning goal in his Tampa debut last time out against Buffalo.
- Per Don Sweeney’s media availability on Friday night, Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko are already in Tampa with the B’s. Casey Mittelstadt was said to be heading to Tampa on Friday evening, so there’s a decent chance all three play this afternoon.
- Fraser Minten won’t play in this game, as he was (coincidentally) in Providence with the Marlies when he was traded to the Bruins. He has immigration paperwork to sort out before he can play for the B’s, so he’s probably a question mark for Tuesday’s game against Florida.
- You have to think ABC didn’t think it was getting the hollowed-out Bruins vs. the Lightning when it selected this game for national TV back in the offseason, but that’s the way things go, I guess.
- This is the third meeting of the season between these two teams, with the other two coming within a week of each other in January. The teams split those two, with the Bruins losing 4-1 in Tampa then winning 6-2 at home.
A new era begins! If nothing else, it’ll be nice to see what some of the new guys bring.
The rest of this season is essentially a big tryout for some fresh faces, then we’ll see where things go in the offseason.
It’s a bit of a weird place to be in as a (relatively spoiled) Bruins fan, but…there are always ups and downs, right?
See ya this afternoon!