The Bruins face the defending Stanley Cup champions Detriot Red Wings tonight. This is the first time since November 28-29, 1997 the Bruins will play two consecutive home games. The Bruins are coming off a 7-2 win against the Islanders yesterday. The Red Wings were also in action last night, winning 5-3 against Columbus.

Fans know how good the Bruins are and how well they compete against other teams this season. However, when the NHL had its old schedule, with not every team playing one another, the Bruins didn't get to play five teams from the Western Conference. Now because the NHL changed the format, the Bruins get to see exactly how they match up against teams from the West. It will be good to see how they match up against the defending champs tonight.

Fluto Shinzawa had some good quotes from Red Wings coach Mike Babcock today.

"Every night we play in the league, when you read the clips before, it's a 'measuring game.' It's a 'measuring-stick game,' " said Detroit's Mike Babcock. "This is our 23d measuring-stick game for the other team. Every night is for us. It's going to be fun for us."

"I think," Babcock continued, "when I watch all the teams in the league right now, the two teams that seem to be the most excited and all playing together are Boston and San Jose. Those are the two teams for me."

It will be a good test for the Bruins.

Goalies: Projected starters in bold. (I'm going opposite what has been reported in the media.)
DETROIT: Ty Conklin (6-2-0, 2.48 GAA, .914 SV%), Chris Osgood (9-1-4, 3.24 GAA, .878 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (9-3-3, 1.88 GAA, .940 SV%), Manny Fernandez (6-1-1, 2.48 GAA, .911 SV%)

Injuries: Marco Sturm, reported concussion... Andrew Ference, fractured tibia.

An abbreviated game preview today because of how late it is and the headache that is starting to develop. Pictures of the new jerseys from this weekend will be up by/on Monday. Go Bruins!

The Bruins were back in black at the Garden yesterday afternoon. The Bruins debuted their new third jerseys, and overall I like the look. However, I think the logo on the front of it might be a little bit too big. Other than that and the lack of a horizontal stripe near the bottom of the jersey, they look great.

The Bruins trailed 1-0 after the first period with former Bruin Nate Thompson scoring for the Islanders. Chuck Kobasew scored on the power play to tie it in the 2nd period. Michael Ryder gave the Bruins the lead later in the second period.

The third period was when the Bruins offense turned red hot. Blake Wheeler scored at 6:48 and just ten seconds later, his linemate David Krejci scored. Dennis Wideman added a goal on the power play. Ryder scored his second of the game on another power play. Then Phil Kessel scored with less than three minutes left in the game.

The Bruins did allow one more goal while on the penalty kill, but it wouldn't matter as they steamrolled to a 7-2 win. Former Joey MacDonald was pulled in the third in favor of Peter Mannino who made his NHL debut.

Milan Lucic mixed it up with Brendan Witt after Wideman's goal. Then Shane Hnidy got into a fight with Tim Jackman.

Although the 3-2 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday was a blip on the Bruins' winning radar, they are back. The game could have turned out differently yesterday especially trailing after the first period. But it seemed the Bruins woke up in the second period and played like the team that is 10-1-1 this month.

Came across an interview of Bruins' goaltender Tim Thomas who made an appearance on WBZ's Sports Final on Sunday. There was an interesting topic of conversation to open the interview.

The Bruins will be in Buffalo tomorrow to play the Sabres.

The Bruins' long awaited new third jerseys go on sale at the Pro Shop this afternoon. Bruins players Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, Marc Savard, Tim Thomas and Blake Wheeler are scheduled to be there from 2:00-3:30.

If you can't make it to the Pro Shop today, but still would like to pick up a third jersey, the Bruins have this special offer.

In addition to the on-sale event, any fan that purchases a third jersey in the Boston Bruins Pro Shop from Monday, November 24 – Wednesday, November 26 will receive a personalized autographed picture of a Boston Bruins player of their choice.

The third jerseys will be worn for 16 games this season, breaking down to 13 home games and 3 road games. They will debut on Friday during the matinee game against the New York Islanders.

Will you be purchasing a third jersey this week? What are your thoughts about the look?

I did my patriotic hockey fan duty again tonight by voting for some Bruins in this season's NHL All-Star game. For the fun of it, I wanted to see where players stood in votes.

Zdeno Chara - 122,122 votes
Marc Savard - 55,691 votes
Patrice Bergeron - 52,748 votes
Tim Thomas - 37,832 votes

But what about all of the other Bruins players? I was interested to see if Bruins fans are voting for other players too. So I looked up every Bruins player.

The Bruins are in Montreal tonight to play the Canadiens. This is their third meeting of the season. Montreal has won its last eight home games against Boston. Boston's last regular season win was on December 4, 2006. The Bruins are all about shattering records this season, beating the Panthers last night, so they should continue that trend tonight. The Bruins next win in Montreal will be their 100th road victory of the lifetime series.

The Canadiens will be raising Patrick Roy's number to the rafters tonight. The ceremony starts at 6. The game starts at 7:30, with the puck drop scheduled for 7:40. The Canadiens are 5-4-2-1 when a team jersey is raised to the rafters.

Goalies: I have no idea who will be starting for the Bruins.
MONTREAL: Carey Price (9-4-1, 2.51, .920 SV%), Jaroslav Halak (2-1-1, 2.46 GAA, .917 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (8-2-3, 1.80 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (5-1-1, 2.55 GAA, .910 SV%)

Previous Matchups: The Bruins ended their 12-game winless streak against the Canadiens on November 13th with a 6-1 victory in Boston. Their first meeting of the season was a shootout loss for the Bruins on October 15th.

Who's Hot: Marc Savard, 11 points in his last 5 games... Phil Kessel, 6 points in his last 5 games... Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, 4 points in their last 2 games... Matt Hunwick, 4 points in his last 3 games... Chuck Kobasew, 3 points in his last two games.

Who's Not: Petteri Nokelainen has yet to register a point.

Injuries: Andrew Ference, fractured right tibia, out indefinitely... Marco Sturm, upper body injury, did not make trip to Montreal.

International House of Hockey: On Saturday November 8, the Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens 6-3 with all nine goals scored by non North American players: Toronto’s Niklas Hagman (Finland, 2 goals), Mikhaïl Grabovski (Belarus), Nik Antropov (Kazakhstan), Pavel Kubina (Czech Republic) and Alexei Ponikarovsky (Ukraine), and Montreal’s Robert Lang (Czech Republic), Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic) and Saku Koivu (Finland). The nine goals equaled the most ever in an NHL game in which all the goals were scored by players born outside North America.

Where They Stand: Not only do the Bruins lead the Northeast Division by six points (ahead of Montreal), the Bruins hold the Eastern Conference lead as well. While the Rangers have the same amount of points as the Bruins (30), the Rangers have played two more games than the Bruins. League-wise, the Bruins are second overall, three points behind the Sharks.

Tonight is an important game for the Bruins. It was good they didn't look past the Panthers last night because if they did that, they would have lost or only managed a point. Claude Julien scrapped today's morning skate, allowing his troops to rest up. Win or lose tonight, the Bruins have proved they are one of the best teams in the league and there's no denying that. Go Bruins!

The Bruins beat the Panthers 4-2 last night. They also honored the movie "Slap Shot" by far one of the best hockey movies of all-time. Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeron, Marc Savard and David Krejci scored for the Bruins. Krejci was shaken up for a portion of the game, but returned. Savard was also shaken up by a hit from defenseman Keith Ballard, and returned only for limited amounts of time in the third period. Claude Julien said it was cautionary since they were leading. Savard's knee should be fine for tonight's game. Marco Sturm did not make the trip to Montreal.

Milan Lucic and Nick Boynton dropped the gloves and Lucic was the decisive winner, getting in a left-right combo that cut Boynton on the lip and about his eyebrow. Boynton stood up for his teammate, something he is known to do, and went for Lucic. It probably wasn't the best idea in the world, but credit to Boynton for doing what he knew was the right thing.

Look for some pictures from warm-ups online later. There aren't many Bruins, but I did manage to squeeze some in while sitting on the Panthers side for warm-ups.

The Bruins host the Florida Panthers in an extremely rare Friday night home game. This is the first meeting between these two teams this season. The Panthers played last night in New Jersey and lost 3-1. Their overall record is 7-10-1 and are 3-2-0 in their last five games.

The Bruins have a hard time beating the Panthers. The Bruins' record against the Panthers is 22-24-6-3. The Bruins are 9-13-4-2 lifetime in Boston against the Panthers. The Bruins' last home victory against the Panthers was on November 3, 2005. Let's home they break that streak with a win tonight. The game is on NESN.

Goalies: Projected starting goalies in bold.
FLORIDA: Tomas Vokoun (4-9-0, 2.93 GAA, .913 SV%), Craig Anderson (3-1-1, 2.08 GAA, .940 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (7-2-3, 1.78 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (5-1-1, 2.55 GAA, .910 SV%)

Who's Hot: Marc Savard continues his point streak. Savard's point streak has reached only 4 games, but the most impressive thing is he has 9 points in those 4 games.

Who's Not:With a team currently undefeated in November, it's hard to pick a Bruin who isn't performing. The easiest way to go is who hasn't scored a goal yet. P.J. Axelsson, Shane Hnidy and Aaron Ward are the regulars.

Injuries: Andrew Ference, fractured right leg, out indefinitely... Marco Sturm, upper body injury, no timetable.

Recalled: I should make mention of this for the Matt Lashoff fans out there (hi there!), Lashoff was recalled yesterday.

This One Time: This one time during the 2005-2006 hockey season, I went to a Florida Panthers practice in Boston. As the equipment guys were bringing the bags out after practice, they left the truck wide open while they went inside to retrieve more. I remember joking that I should steal Roberto Luongo's equipment so he wouldn't be able to play and beat the Bruins. But my plan was spoiled and I instead made sure the equipment stayed in the truck. One of the Bruins' equipment managers was helping, as often the host team does, and thanked me for my efforts. My compensation would be a hockey stick of my choice at a later time. Fast forward to a Bruins practice that same season. I saw the equipment manager again and requested a Nick Boynton stick if he could manage. He went inside and a few minutes later came out with the stick already autographed by Boynton. The irony in that story is amusing now.

That leads me to why I have been looking forward to this game since Boynton was traded from Phoenix to Florida at the draft this year. It is the first time in two years I'll see Boynton play in person. For some reason this is bigger than Joe Thornton's first visit back to Boston. Boynton was a special player to me, and by his career, I can see just how long I have come as a fan.

To see a NHL career progress focusing on one player is something special and limited. I was there for so many different milestones in his career... when he was drafted, when he played his first NHL game, and when he scored his first NHL goal. There are other smaller milestones that mean almost as much to me because nobody else has those memories.

So if anybody is wondering, that's why Boynton is special. I'll be rooting for the Bruins tonight and hope they continue their unbeaten record in November, but I'll also be focusing a little on Boynton too. Go Bruins!

The Bruins host the Sabres tonight in their third meeting of the season. The Bruins' last game was a 3-2 in Toronto on Monday. The Sabres' last game was a 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Sabres are 1-3-1 in their last five games. The Bruins are 4-0-1 in their last five games and 8-1-1 in their last ten games. The Bruins lead the Northeast Division by 4 points, and they can add to that lead tonight.

The Bruins are holding two events before the game. The Second Samuel Adams Bru Fest starts at 5 and concludes at 7 in the West Plaza outside of the TD Banknorth Garden. The other event is Gearing Up for Winter where the Bruins and Cradles to Crayons are collecting new and used coats for children. The collection will take place at each turnstile and continue throughout the game. For donating a coat, fans will receive a raffle ticket for prizes ranging from a team autograph stick to a Patrice Bergeron autographed photo.

Tonight's game can be seen on NESN. The referees are Dave Jackson and Brad Watson.

Goalies: Projected starters in bold.
BUFFALO: Ryan Miller (8-3-2, 2.22 GAA, .922 SV%), Patrice Lalime (1-2-1, 3.65 GAA, .875 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (7-2-3, 1.78 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (4-1-1, 2.31 GAA, .919 SV%)

Previous Matchups: The Sabres and Bruins first met on October 21 this season. The Sabres won 3-2 in a shootout win. The second meeting was on November 8th in Boston where the Bruins skated away with a 3-1 victory. Dennis Wideman had a goal in each game. Phil Kessel, Chuck Kobasew and Marc Savard scored the other Bruin goals.

Who's Hot: Matt Hunwick scored his first NHL goal in Monday's game against Toronto... Marc Savard has five assists in his last three games.

Who's Not: Blake Wheeler hasn't scored a goal since his hat trick against Toronto on November 6th. His scoreless streak is at five games.

Injuries: Andrew Ference, fractured tibia, out indefinitely 6-8 weeks, click here for an update on the surgery... Marco Sturm, upper body ailment, very doubtful for tonight's game.

Milestones Approaching: Chuck Kobasew is playing in his 300th NHL game tonight... Patrice Bergeron still needs one point for 200 NHL/Bruins points.

This week is a weird schedule for Boston sports teams. Generally the Bruins play on Tuesday and Thursday and the Celtics on Wednesday and Friday. This week is flip-flopped. I can't tell you how many times during the course of today I will think today is Thursday. I will probably have one minor freak out when I think I forgot to record Grey's Anatomy. Friday's game will most likely feel like Saturday.

The Bruins are a hot team right now and that is a great thing to watch. There isn't much to complain about. The hot streak might not last forever, but I think it has a great chance to.

We interrupt this game to bring you a little update on the NHL All-Star balloting situation. As Bruins fans, we must support and vote for our players. Patrice Bergeron, Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara are on the ballot. Tim Thomas, Aaron Ward and Dennis Wideman can be written in.

But what about Milan Lucic? The Hockey News says Lucic in the All-Star game would be sweet and I agree.

Other than the great irony that would be the P.A. announcer in Montreal uttering the sentence “East goal scored by No. 17, Milan Lucic, assisted by No. 8, Mike Komisarek,” the appearance of ‘Looch’ would bring the right kind of energy and edginess that the NHL All-Star Game generally lacks.

So get on NHL.com and vote for your Bruins. It's very sad to see Montreal leading insanely in every position.

The Bruins are in Toronto tonight to play the Maple Leafs. It's the Bruins' first visit to Toronto this season. The season series is tied 1-1. The game is at 7:30 and can be seen on Versus.

It's the first game back home for the Maple Leafs who had a three game road trip visiting Northwest Division teams. They went 1-2 on the road and their last game was a 4-2 loss in Vancouver on Saturday. The Bruins conclude their two game road trip tonight. Their previous game was a 3-2 shootout loss in New York against the Rangers.

Goalies: Projected starters in bold.
TORONTO: Curtis Joseph (0-2-1, 3.21 GAA, .873 SV%), Vesa Toskala (7-5-3, 3.24 GAA, .878 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (6-2-3, 1.76 GAA, .945 SV%), Manny Fernandez (4-1-1, 2.31 GAA, .919 SV%)

Previous Matchups: The Bruins and Maple Leafs have split their first two meetings of the season, both in Boston. Toronto won 4-2 on October 23rd while the Bruins won 5-2 on November 6th. Blake Wheeler scored his first career hat trick in the Bruins' win against Toronto.

Who's Hot: Stephane Yelle has four points in his last two games. He scored two goals against Montreal on Thursday... Zdeno Chara has a three game point streak.

Who's Not: Aaron Ward is still without a goal. His last goal came in March, 27 games ago... Mark Stuart hasn't posted an assist on the season. His last assist came in March as well, 22 games ago.

Injuries: Andrew Ference, fractured tibia, surgery today, out 6-8 weeks.

Milestones Approaching: Patrice Bergeron needs one point for 200 NHL/Bruins points.

Overheard: Ron Wilson declined to answer a question about Milan Lucic. "I don't want to talk about Bruins players," Wilson said. "Sorry."

Wilson might not want to talk about Bruins players now, but depending on the outcome of tonight's game, he might just have to talk about them.

Claude Julien will be behind the Boston bench, coaching his 100th Bruins game tonight. It would be nice for the Bruins to give him a win.

I'll be checking in during the game.

Wishing Patrice Bergeron had more than 3 goals this season? Thought Andrew Ference would have had a goal by now?

Scoring isn't everything when it comes to hockey. Obviously scoring more goals in a game wins the game, but preventing goals helps winning games too.

On the defensive side, the Bruins aren't too shabby according to the NHL's top defensive players posted by James Mirtle, found through the Globe blog.

Defensemen Dennis Wideman and Andrew Ference rank in the top ten of defensive defensemen. Forwards Marco Sturm and Patrice Bergeron are in the top 20 in defensive forwards.

That begs me to ask, Goals? They don't need no stinkin' goals... As long as somebody else is scoring enough to win.

The Bruins were in New York last night to play the Rangers for the first time this season. It was a match-up between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins hold first in the Northeast Division while the Rangers hold first in the Atlantic Division, and occupy the first two positions in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Bruins' offense came from their defense against the Rangers. Zdeno Chara scored the first goal of the game in the second period. Dennis Wideman added to the Bruins' lead with a shorthanded goal. It was the first shorthanded goal for the Bruins this season.

The lead was cut in half with about 6 minutes left in the third period. Then the Rangers tied it with roughly 52 seconds left in the game. Giving up 2-0 leads is nothing new for the Bruins this season, but giving it up so late was the downer to this game, one they could have easily came out of with two points.

Overtime saw it's share of chances for both teams, but the best chance came off Marc Savard's stick. Savard waited to get Henrik Lundqvist out of position. Savard waited just long enough and went blocker side, the same side where Chara and Wideman scored, but the puck caught the post.

The Bruins went to a shootout for the second time this week. The Rangers shot first. Thomas stopped the Rangers' first shooter. The puck was somewhere underneath him. There was a review but there was no evidence that the puck went into the net. Blake Wheeler shot first for the Bruins. Lundqvist forced him wide. The second Rangers shooter hit the post. Phil Kessel shot second and Lundqvist made the save. Thomas made the save on the third Rangers shooter. P.J. Axelsson was the third shooter and he went wide again, but Lundqvist made the save.

In the sudden death shootout, Chris Drury scored. Patrice Bergeron slipped the puck through Lundqvist's five-hole and the puck went through, but the other leg caught a piece of the puck, redirecting it towards the post of the net.

The Rangers won the shootout 1-0 and the game 3-2, snapping the Bruins' six game winning streak.

At the start of the game, Bruins fans received some bad news as it was announced defenseman Andrew Ference suffered a broken tibia in Thursday's game. Ference took a slap shot off his leg and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. He is slated to have surgery tomorrow to put a pin in his leg. Matt Hunwick slipped back into the line-up last night after slipping out when Shane Hnidy returned from his injury.

The Bruins host the Canadiens tonight for the first time since last season's playoffs. This is the second meeting of the season between these two rivals. The Bruins lead the Northeast Division at the moment, tied with Buffalo as both teams have identical 9-3-3 records and 21 points. Montreal is one point behind both, and has played two fewer games. The Canadiens' last game was against Ottawa where they won 4-0.

Although the Bruins won three games during the playoff series last season, their regular season record against the Canadiens is a 12 game losing streak. The Bruins last won a regular season game against the Canadiens on March 3, 2007. Since then, the Bruins' record against the Canadiens is 0-10-0-2. It is the longest losing stretch in the lifetime series between these two teams.

I can see the Bruins breaking that losing streak tonight.

Goalies: Projected starters in bold.
MONTREAL: Carey Price (7-2-1, 2.34 GAA, .925 SV%), Jaroslav Halak (2-0-1, 2.60 GAA, .911 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (6-2-2, 1.76 GAA, .946 SV%), Manny Fernandez (3-1-1, 2.57 GAA, .910 SV%)

Previous Matchup: The Bruins and Canadiens last met on October 15th. In the first matchup of the season, the Canadiens took a 4-3 shootout victory.

Who's Hot: P.J. Axelsson who scored the shootout winner in last night's 2-1 victory over Chicago. Without a goal in regular season games, perhaps this gives the veteran some goal scoring momentum.

Who's Not: Aaron Ward and Andrew Ference haven't scored a goal yet this season. They bring a lot more than that to the game, but getting a goal would be nice to see soon.

Injuries: None listed.

Milestones Approaching: Patrice Bergeron needs 2 points for 200 NHL/Bruins points... P.J. Axelsson needs 3 goals for 100 NHL/Bruins goals.

Back-to-Back Games: The Bruins are 2-0-1 in the first game of a back-to-back game series. They are 1-0-1 in the second game.

It's probably the biggest rivalry in hockey, or the longest one at the very least. Bruins' fans always mark their calendars when the Canadiens come to town, just as I'm sure the Canadiens' fans do too.

The one thing I hope tonight, besides a Bruins' win, is that Bruins fans represent their team well at the game and with class. It gets lost in the rivalry that Canadiens' fans are hockey fans too, and the number one rule I was taught growing up was to treat others with respect. I'm sure the Bruins team would expect nothing less from their great fans. Go Bruins!

Since I was lazy the majority of the night, I thought I would pop in for the shootout.

Marco Sturm scored the Bruins' goal and had a goal disallowed due to to goaltender interference. Tim Thomas was/is in net. Shane Hnidy was out.

In overtime, the Bruins had a power play and some sweet chances on it. Nikolai Khabibulin made some incredible saves. Then Patrick Sharp had a penalty shot right after. Thomas made the save.

We're currently getting ready for the shootout.

The Bruins are in Chicago tonight to face-off against the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks and the Bruins might seem similar in records, Blackhawks 7-3-3 and Bruins 8-3-3, but one thing stands out. The Blackhawks are unbeaten at home holding a 6-0-2 record. Chicago is also on a four game winning streak.

This is the first meeting between these two teams this season. The Blackhawks will visit Boston on March 7th. The Bruins are 256-234-79-2 lifetime against Chicago.

Goalies: Projected starters in bold.
CHICAGO: Cristobal Huet (3-2-1, 2.45, .916 SV%), Nikolai Khabibulin (4-1-2, 2.38, .919 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (5-2-2, 1.85 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (3-1-1, 2.57 GAA, .910 SV%)

Who's Hot: In his first game back from a leg fractuce, Chuck Kobasew scored a goal and an assist... Dennis Wideman who has two goals in his last two games.

Who's Not: Wicked Bruins Fan, as I came down with a head cold yesterday, which also explains why I have been missing for a couple of days.

Injuries: Shane Hnidy, undisclosed lower-body injury, might return to the line-up tomorrow if not tonight.

Fun Facts: Manny Fernandez has two career shutouts vs. Chicago with a 2-0 win on Nov. 24, 2000 and a 3-0 victory on Jan. 19, 2007... Boston's last overtime win over the Blackhawks came with a 2-1 victory in Chicago on Feb. 4, 1934 as Aubrey "Dit" Clapper scored the winning goal for the Bruins.

You may remember the last meeting between the Blackhawks and Bruins. The Blackhawks visited Boston on October 25, 2007 and Zdeno Chara gave fans a lasting memory.

I'll be checking in during the game tonight.

The Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres tonight. This is the second meeting of the season between these Northeast Divison rivals. The Sabres are coming off a 5-4 OT loss against Atlanta. The Bruins are coming off a 5-2 win against Toronto.

The Sabres lead the Northeast Division with a 8-2-3 record and 19 points. The Bruins are third, behind Montreal by one point, with 17 points. The Bruins could come out of tonight's game tied for the lead in the division.

Goalies: Starters in bold.
BUFFALO: Ryan Miller (7-1-2, 1.95 GAA, .930 SV%), Patrick Lalime (1-1-1, 2.59 GAA, .910 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (5-2-2, 1.85 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (2-1-1, 2.95 GAA, .892 SV%)

Previous Matchup: The Bruins and Sabres last met on October 21st. The Sabres won in a 3-2 shootout victory. Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel scored for the Bruins. Manny Fernandez was in net.

Who's Hot: The line of Blake Wheeler, David Krejci and Marco Sturm. The line has combined for 12 points since Claude Julien put the trio together. Wheeler scored his first career hat trick on Thursday.

Who's Not: Petteri Nokelainen remains without a point this season. It is a little hard to believe he doesn't have at least a point yet.

Injuries: Shane Hnidy, undisclosed lower body injury, day-to-day, not playing tonight... Chuck Kobasew, fractured right leg, day-to-day, decision to be made after warm-ups.

Troop Salute: The Bruins are hosting 1,200 members of local military families tonight on "Seats for Soldiers" Night... Season ticket holders, fans and the Boston Bruins organization have donated all of the seats and Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward donated an additional $15,000 worth of tickets for this unique and worthwhile event.

I will be at tonight's game with my camera. I suffered a shoulder impingement on Thursday, but I'm hoping I can make it through warm-ups with some photos at least. The next time I'll probably be around to update the blog is Monday, so keep an eye on Twitter in the meantime.

Blake Wheeler changed his number from 42 to 26 before Thursday's game against Toronto, and the change turned out to be a great one.

Wheeler scored his first career NHL hat trick, the third goal coming on an empty net at 19:07. The other two goals, Wheeler scored on the power play at 7:46 in the first period and at 5:18 in the second period.

The hat trick came in Wheeler's 13th career game. It is the fastest hat trick by a Bruin rookie since Craig Janney scored a hat trick in his 5th NHL game.

Defensemen Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara scored the other Boston goals. The Bruins won the game 5-2.

There was really no reason behind the number change by Wheeler.

“There’s really no significance to it. In Minnesota, there’ve been a lot of 26s – like Thomas Vanek, Paul Stastny,” Wheeler said of his fellow former UM Gophers who are now starring at the game’s highest level. “I grew up kind of watching those 26s having a lot of success. But there’s really no significance to it, I just liked the number.”

“I really don’t know what it means. They just said I could change the number and 26 was a number I kind of set my sites on – I did little research on the number situation,” said Wheeler, noting that he’d always worn Lucic’s 17 throughout his life but wouldn’t ask the fellow frontline Bruin to change numerals. “It’s cool but at the same time, I don’t know if it really means all that much.”

Wheeler's hat trick is the second of the season for the Bruins. Milan Lucic scored a hat trick on October 25th against Atlanta. The last time the Bruins had more than one hat trick in a season was 2002-2003 when Glen Murray, Marty McInnis and Martin Lapointe accomplished it.

I think we're on pace to breaking that fun fact this season.

After four days off, the Bruins are back in action tonight hosting the Maple Leafs for the second time this season. The Bruins are coming off a great game against the Dallas Stars on Saturday (to be featured in a "Better Late Than Never" post later). One point separates the Bruins (15 points) and Leafs (14 points) in the Northeast Division.

The Bruins are hosting Bru Fest before the game. A ticket cost $45 and includes admission to the Bru Fest party, voucher for one free beer (or soda if you prefer), discounted concessions and a ticket to the game. The outdoor festivities start at 5.

Goalies: Starters in bold. (Not confirmed from anywhere I can see.)
TORONTO: Curtis Joseph (0-2-1, 3.91 GAA, .862 SV%), Vesa Toskala (5-2-3, 3.00, .887 SV%)
BOSTON: Tim Thomas (4-2-2, 1.83 GAA, .944 SV%), Manny Fernandez (2-1-1, 2.95 GAA, .892 SV%)

Previous Matchup: The Bruins lost the first game of the season series 4-2 on October 23rd. It was Boston's only loss of the season by more than one goal. Blake Wheeler and Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins. Toronto scored two goals on the power play. The fourth goal was an empty netter.

Who's Hot: Marco Sturm scored two goals on Saturday against Dallas. Hopefully that gets him scoring more consistently... Marc Savard has six assists in his last five games. Blake Wheeler has three points in his last two games.

Who's Not: P.J. Axelsson is still looking for his first goal of the season... Petteri Nokelainen hasn't recorded a point this season.

Injuries: Chuck Kobasew, leg fracture, might return tonight... Mark Stuart, flu, day-to-day... Shane Hnidy, undisclosed, day-to-day.

Streaks and Milestones: Marc Savard has a five game assist streak... Patrice Bergeron has a two game goal scoring streak... Andrew Ference needs one assist for his 100th NHL assist... Zdeno Chara is playing in his 700th NHL game tonight.

The Bruins need to be prepared for the Leafs despite their 5-4-4 record. The Leafs have come back from 2-0 deficits five times in their last eight games. After being down 2-0, the Leafs have posted a 3-0-2 record. The last game against the Bruins is included in that, as the Bruins held a 2-0 lead and the leafs scored 4 unanswered goals.

The Leafs have the most blocked shots (217) in the NHL and have outshot their opponent in nine consecutive games. The Leafs shouldn't be taken lightly, and if the Bruins get a lead tonight, they must stay on their toes and not sit back. I hope the Bruins are on the winning side tonight.

I came across the following news via Kukla's Korner on my Twitter account. The Bruins are being investigated because of Glen Murray's buyout.

According to Murray's agent, Murray will have follow-up ankle surgery in about a week. The injury is a secondary injury that Murray wasn't aware of until September.

Murray is physically unable to play and because the secondary injury was discovered after the buyout he and Thun are conducting an investigation to prove this injury is pre-existing and should have prohibited the Bruins from buying him out.

Thun stated at the time of the buyout that Murray did not know the nature of his injury which is why it wasn't raised. Murray continued to receive treatment in Boston, but this treatment did not solve the problem, leading to further investigation in to why he was feeling pain and the subsequent decision additional surgery is required to address a separate issue in the ankle.

Murray will be filing a grievance with the NHLPA. If an arbitrator challenges the buyout, it is possible the Bruins will have to pay Murray's full salary instead of the buyout.

On the day where Americans were electing their next President, the NHL released the All-Star ballot. The NHL All-Star game is hosted by Montreal this season on January 25th. Voting for your NHL All-Stars starts on November 12th.

The Bruins players on the ballot are Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard.

Tim Thomas has been left off yet again. I wonder why the NHL doesn't recognize top players, yet have no problem putting Rick DiPietro (3.91 GAA, .883 SV%) on the ballot.

Thomas leads the league in save percentage right now at .944 and posted back-to-back shutouts last week. He is second behind Ryan Miller in goals against average with 1.83 GAA. So why was he left off?

Get out and vote for your Bruins players, as well as other NHLers deserving a spot.

Does a half dozen Bruins players make a practice? Didn't think so. But for a Monday that turned out to be a low key day, it was a really nice start.

The half dozen players skating were Blake Wheeler, David Krejci, Michael Ryder, Chuck Kobasew, Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez.

I sat in the stands, snapping some pictures and playing with the camera settings. I think Ristuccia Arena will always be a place where sometimes a setting will work and sometimes it won't.

I did see some other players pop out from the locker room, including Milan Lucic and P.J. Axelsson, but that was about it. I didn't stick around long enough to see anybody else. The last time I went to a practice, I didn't have the greatest memory and the last thing I wanted to do was jinx somebody.

At the conclusion of "practice", while Kobasew worked on his timing with assistant coach Doug Houda, Wheeler and Krejci had a competition going. The competition was shooting pucks from one end of the rink to the other and see how many they could get in the net. By his celebration, I would say Wheeler was the winner.

I just enjoyed sitting back and watching Wheeler and Krejci compete and interact. It was nice seeing professional athletes having fun doing something so simple as shooting pucks down to the other end. I don't think the same thing can be said regarding other professional sports.

Kobasew looked good skating, so hopefully that means he'll be in the line-up on Thursday against the Maple Leafs.

The only thing I could think of while Wheeler and Krejci were shooting at the net where Kobasew and Houda were working was, "Please don't hit Kobasew with the puck. You might break something."