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  • Flames at Bruins Preview

    Game Day

    Flames at Bruins Preview

    Dan St.Pierre December 17, 2013
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    Holding a three point lead in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins will look to rebound from a 6-2 drubbing in Vancouver, which snapped a four-game winning streak, at the TD Garden tonight against the Calgary Flames.

    The 6-2 shellacking in Vancouver on Saturday night should come as no surprise, considering the recent rash of injuries, suspensions and a flu bug that’s recently swept through the locker room of the spoked-B. If you managed to stay awake for the second and third periods of Thursday night’s game in Edmonton, you knew the potential of a disaster occurring against a sizzling Canucks team on Saturday night.

    Heading back home to the familiar confines of the TD Garden couldn’t come at a better time for Claude Julien’s AHL group that’s recently made the call to Providence five times over the past seven days to plug numerous holes in the lineup. This season, Boston is 13-3-2 on Garden ice, while the Feasterless Flames, playing the second game of a five-game road trip, are 7-8-2 as visitors this season.

    With both teams coming off defeats in their last game played, let’s take a look at how the two teams matchup tonight.

    Gametime: 7:00pm EST

    TV Broadcast: NESN, SNET-W

    Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

    Calgary Flames (13-15-5) | 6th in Pacific Division | 13th in Western Conference | 5-4-1 (Last 10 GP)

    Boston Bruins (22-9-2) | 1st in Atlantic Division | 2nd in Eastern Conference | 7-3-0 (Last 10 GP)

    TeamGoals For/GameGoals Allowed/GamePower-Play %Penalty-Kill %5-on-5 GF/GA Ratiovs. Opposing Conf.
    Calgary17th28th24th13th26th7-3-3
    Boston12th2nd14th7th7th4-2-2

    *Based off NHL Rankings

    Top Scorers

    Calgary FlamesGoalsAssistsPoints+/-Special Teams Points
    Jiri Hudler92130+26
    Sean Monahan10616-54
    Kris Russell41216+25
    Mike Cammalleri10515-153
    Boston BruinsGoals AssistsPoints+/-Special Teams Points
    David Krejci62127+128
    Milan Lucic111324+106
    Reilly Smith91423+45
    Jarome Iginla81119+142

    Goaltending Matchup

    Tonight's GoaltendersW/L/OTLGoals Against AverageSave %Shutouts
    Reto Berra4-7-23.18.896%0
    Tuukka Rask16-8-21.97.932%2

    Players to Watch

    CGY: Reto Berra

    – Like the last several seasons, the Flames won’t be invited to the postseason this year and the play of their goaltenders is largely to blame. With a goals-against-average hovering around three goals a game, it’s pretty obvious that goaltending isn’t a organizational strength of the Flames. Over the past decade, the now retired Miikka Kiprusoff seemingly started 90 percent of Calgary’s games. Meanwhile, the Flames have already used three different starters in goal this season and seven total since last season with backup, starter, backup Reto Berra getting the start in goal tonight against Boston. To score the upset in Boston tonight, the Flames will need an exceptional performance from the first-year netminder, whose last start in goal came just a week ago where Berra surrendered two late goals in a 2-1 defeat at the Saddledome seven days ago.

    BOS: Reilly Smith

    – While the rest of the Bruins scurried to receive an IV drip on the bench in Vancouver, the “throw-in” in the Tyler Seguin off-season trade continued to work over the Canucks defensemen, scoring the only two Bruins goals on Saturday night. In six December games, the shifty winger leads all Bruins forwards with four goals and shares a team lead in points with David Krejci with six a piece. With Loui Eriksson out indefinitely, Smith will be called upon to produce on the second line, a role the former Dallas winger emphatically showed he’s more than capable of handling throughout the road trip.

    Stats, Not Opinion

    4– Boston has won four straight and five of the last-six games against Calgary

    98– Last week in Calgary, the Bruins rallied to beat the Flames 2-1 behind Reilly Smith’s sensational game-winning-goal with 4:33 left to play, only 98 seconds after David Krejci tied the game up with a power-play tally.

    7– Just like every other Western Conference team, the Flames have capitalized against Eastern Conference opponents this season en route to a 7-3-3 record overall and 4-0-3 against the Metropolitan division.

    9– The last time Calgary visited Boston during the regular season, the Bruins embarrassed the Flames 9-0 on January 5, 2012.

    5– Out of the nine goals scored the last time the two teams met, five goals were tallied by players who won’t be in Boston’s lineup tonight against Calgary.

    Vegas Line

    CGY(+185) at BOS(-225) | OU 5.5u-145

    (via: Bovada.lv)

    Dump & Change

    BsFavs55UnderBLSystem

    Even with the 9-0 drubbing a few years back, historically the odds point in favor of a low scoring game tonight at the TD Garden. Using SportsInsights.com’s Bet Labs software, we discover a profitable trend towards taking the under in situations when the Bruins are favorites with a 5.5 game total, like tonight against Calgary.

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