Today on Bruins Daily

It is that time of the week again where Chris Chirichiello names his Player of the Week? Who will get the honors this week? Will Reilly Smith or Tuukka Rask win the award for the second time this year, or will a guy like Carl Soderberg get the honors? Stay tuned.

It is also time for the Bruins and Penguins to meet again as Pittsburgh returns to the TD Garden for the first time since being swept in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pens won the first meeting between the two teams the night before Halloween, but the Black and Gold have been on a roll as of late – going 7-1-2 in their last 10.

Anthony Travalgia will be there as usual and Dan St. Pierre fills in for your’s truly as I warm up from the Pats epic comeback over the Broncos last night. But it won’t be a complete night off for me as I’ll be on with Brian Metzer from Penguins Live talking about tonight’s matchup. For our readers in the Pittsburgh area, you can tune in to 105.9 FM HD-2, or for the Internets, you can listen here starting at 5:40 pm.

Follow along on Twitter at @BruinsDaily and include #DailyLive in your tweets.

In case you missed it

Anthony’s three takeaways from the Bruins’ win over the Hurricanes are on Boston.com.

I discuss the success of the third line and how their situation is a far cry from last year’s revolving door.

And some awesome shots as usual from Bruins Daily chief photographer Joe Makarski.

Know the enemy

By now you know that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are two players to watch, and still with good reason. After a recent history of injuries, Crosby is back to his usual self as he leads the league in scoring with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists), while Malkin, despite only tallying four goals on the year, is seventh in the league with 26 points. The two nearly combine for 30 percent of Pittsburgh’s offense accumulating 56 of the team’s 189 points.

Not only are Crosby and Malkin producing, but they are making their teammates better. Chris Kunitz’s 11 goals are second on the team thanks in large part to Crosby dishing him the puck on the first line, while a healthy James Neal is averaging a point per game on the second line with Malkin.

Defensively, even with Kris Letang’s struggles (minus-8 in 15 games this year), the Penguins are improving on the back end as seen by the improvement of Marc-Andre Fleury. The playoff woes of the Pens goalie are well documented, but he is putting those critics to rest for the time being thanks in part to the tutelage of assistant coach Jacques Martin. Fleury’s 13 wins puts him in a tie for second among goalies, while also posting a 1.95 goals against average and .923 save percentage. Not bad for a goalie who likely couldn’t stop a beach ball a few months ago.

Still, the Metro Division leading Penguins are only 5-5 in their last 10 and will be looking to get on a roll beginning tonight.

Bruins linkage

David Krejci snapped out of his slump after scoring the overtime winner Saturday afternoon. Will this be the start of another hot streak for the Bruins’ leading scorer? (Joe Haggerty/CSNNE)

Backup goalie Chad Johnson is making the most of his limited time between the pipes. (Joe McDonald/ESPN Boston)

Zach Parise and Evander Kane are just two of the five Western Conference players on this list who would look good in a Black and Gold uniform. (Krik Vance/The Hockey Writers)

League linkage

The B’s find themselves sixth on the list of most valuable teams with an estimated value of $600 million. No. 1 you ask? The Toronto Maple Leafs, who are worth a paltry 1.15 billion in American dollars. (Forbes)

The Buffalo Sabres’ third jersey’s are the latest subject of Puck Daddy’s “pass or turd burger” series. (Jen Neale/Yahoo)

Torey Krug and Tomas Hertl have company in the Calder Trophy race. You might know him as the fourth overall pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Still doesn’t ring a bell? Okay its Predators rookie defenseman Seth Jones. (Thomas Drance/The Sporting News)

Bruins’ projected lines

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Loui Eriksson
Reilly Smith-Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Johnny Boychuk-Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask
Chad Johnson

Penguins’ projected lines

Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Beau Bennett
Pascal Dupuis-Evgeni Malkin-James Neal
Jussi Jokinen-Brandon Sutter-Brian Gibbons
Tanner Glass-Joe Vitale-Craig Adams

Paul Martin-Brooks Orpik
Olli Maatta-Kris Letang
Matt Niskanen-Derek Engelland

Marc-Andre Fleury
Jeff Zatkoff

Tweets of interest

Good to see a Steven Stamkos sighting after fracturing his tibia a couple of weeks ago. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery to the Lightning superstar:

BREAKING: Steven Stamkos press conference live now. pic.twitter.com/PytxxQqYDz

— Missy Zielinski (@Missy_Zielinski) November 25, 2013

Its a sad day in TV land as Brian Griffin passed away during last night’s episode of Family Guy. Cutaway scenes will never be the same again:

#RIPBrian #familyguy pic.twitter.com/51vBZfdlhy

— Family Guy (@FamilyGuyonFOX) November 25, 2013

For something completely different…

The newest sensation comes from the fine city of Chicago and its…bubble soccer? I can’t even…