The Bruins open the 2008-2009 season against the Colorado Avalanche tonight. The game will be televised on VERSUS and VERSUS HD starting at 10. Bear with me as I get back into the hockey swing of things. I’m going to be trying a few different things in the game previews this season.
Tonight is the first and only match-up between the Bruins and Avalanche this season. This is the third straight season the Bruins open on the road. The Bruins are 6-20-5 lifetime in road openers. The Bruins are winless in their last five openers, 0-4-1.
Goalies: The starters' names will be bolded once they’re known. Note that the stats are from the pre-season.
Colorado: Peter Budaj (2-0-0, 1.89 GAA, 93.6 SV%), Andrew Raycroft (2-1-0, 3.90 GAA, 83.1 SV%)
Boston: Tim Thomas (0-3-0, 3.35 GAA, 89.6 SV%), Manny Fernandez (2-1-0, 3.29 GAA, 85.9 SV%)
Who’s Hot & Who’s Not: The “Hot” section is be for players who are in the midst of scoring streaks or are coming off a great game. The “Not” section is for players who are in a slump or are not playing their best hockey. It’s hard to pick anybody for tonight’s game since pre-season doesn’t really count, but if I had to choose, the “Hot” would be Andrew Ference who scored 6 points in 4 pre-season games; Patrice Bergeron also had 6 points in 6 pre-season games; Blake Wheeler (1-4-5 in 6 games) for making the roster out of camp. The “Not” would be Peter Schaefer who was waived yesterday.
Former Bruins: This section will name the former Bruins on the opposing team. Tonight, the Bruins will likely face Raycroft in goal. If Raycroft gets the nod tonight, it will be his 200th NHL game. Boston drafted Raycroft, and he won the Calder Trophy during the 2003-2004 season. The other former Bruin is Ben Guite who spent time in Providence and made his NHL debut with Boston in the 2005-2006 season.
2:13 p.m. The puck drops at 10:20 tonight. Thomas is starting in goal. The healthy scratches are Andrew Alberts and Petteri Nokelainen.
