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  • Gameday: Bruins and Leafs conclude home and home

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    Gameday: Bruins and Leafs conclude home and home

    Mark Marino March 25, 2013
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    Boston Bruins Hockey, Bruins Blogs, Hockey Captains, Zdeno Chara, Defenseman

    (Photo by Joe Makarski/BruinsDaily) Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and company look to snap out of their current slump when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the latter half of the home and home tonight at the TD Garden

    Having won just once in their last four games, the Boston Bruins are searching for solutions rather than excuses. With new lines and all, the Black and Gold look to bounce back and avenge Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the TD Garden.

    Despite their slump, the Bruins (43 points) still find themselves within striking distance of the Montreal Canadiens, who currently have a two-point lead in the Northeast Division standings. A win over the Leafs will give the Black and Gold the division lead at the end of the night. The Habs come to Boston Wednesday night, and before that, travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to face the red-hot Penguins.

    The Leafs, meanwhile, come into tonight in sixth place in the East and trail the Bruins by six points for second place in the Northeast. Toronto, who is 4-3-3 in its last 10, lead the seventh place New Jersey Devils by one point and is four points in front of the eighth seeded New York Rangers.

    After the jump, lineups, storylines, linkage and tweets of interest

    Gametime: 7 p.m.
    Location: TD Garden
    TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
    Records: Bruins (20-7-3, 43 points), Maple Leafs (17-12-3, 37 points)

    Bruins’ projected lines

    Brad Marchand-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
    Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
    Milan Lucic-Rich Peverley-Jordan Caron
    Jay Pandolfo-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

    Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
    Dennis Seidenberg-Matt Bartkowski
    Andrew Ference-Aaron Johnson

    Tuukka Rask
    Anton Khudobin

    Leafs’ projected lines

    James van Riemsdyk-Tyler Bozak-Phil Kessel
    Nikolai Kulemin-Nazem Kadri-Joffrey Lupul
    Clarke MacArthur-Mikhail Grabovski-Matt Frattin
    Frazer McLaren-Jay McClement-Colton Orr/Ryan Hamilton

    Carl Gunnarsson-Dion Phaneuf
    Jake Gardiner-Mike Kostka
    Mark Fraser-Cody Franson

    James Reimer
    Ben Scrivens

    Bruins to watch

    Having scored just six goals in their last four contests, its safe to say that all 12 Bruins forwards are on the radar. But for the sake of this preview, lets highlight Milan Lucic again, shall we?

    Lucic unquestionably is in a major cold spell and its safe to say that Julien needed to bump him down to the third line, which has been another sore spot for the Black and Gold. The sixth-year forward hasn’t lit the lamp in over a month and that’s probably the least of his concerns. When he struggled to score in the past, Lucic was at least engaging others with his physical presence, and even that hasn’t been seen over the last several games.

    Maybe Lucic’s move to the third line will be that wake up call he needs, and perhaps his new compadre’s Rich Peverley and Jordan Caron will also benefit from his presence.

    Leafs to watch

    We kept an eye on him last game and we’ll certainly keep the spotlight on Nazem Kadri again tonight.

    The former first round pick scored the game’s first goal in the Leafs’ victory Saturday and has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last four games. And after being ridiculed for not living up to his potential from Toronto fans the past few seasons, it looks like he’s found a rhythm as he leads his team in scoring with 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists); good for eighth in the National Hockey League. I guess there’s a reason that Don Cherry keeps praising him on Hockey Night in Canada after all.

    After serving a two-game suspension, Joffery Lupul (three goals and one assist in five games this season) returns to the Leafs lineup. We’ll see how he responds after reacting to the Rick Nash hit on Tomas Kopecky via Twitter – one that did not warrant a suspension according to Brendan Shanahan.

    Bruins linkage

    While Brendan Morrow was traded from Dallas to Pittsburgh yesterday, CSNNE’s Joe Haggerty says the Bruins made a significant offer to acquire the ex-Stars forward. After seeing that, I can only imagine what it will take to get Jarome Iginla in a Black and Gold uniform.

    Our friends from Days of Y’Orr somehow got Winnie the Pooh in a retro Pooh Bear Bruins jersey.

    Another reminder that SupahFans Streetwear waives their $5 shipping fee when Bruins fans enter ‘DailySupahFans’ as a coupon code at checkout.

    Leafs linkage

    The folks at Leafs Nation share their five thoughts to start the week.

    And The National Post explains how Kadri went from potential bust to the Leafs’ top scorer.

    Tweets of interest

    Shameless plug alert. In case you missed it yesterday here are details on The Harp and Bruins Daily teaming up to give away a $25 gift card. Be sure to use #DailyHarp in your tweets.

     

     

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