BOSTON, MA – The Boston Bruins look to make it four-in-a-row on the road as they face some familiar faces in the Minnesota Wild tonight at the Xcel Energy Center. Former Bruins’ defenseman “Sherriff” Shane Hnidy faces the Bruins for the first time in an opposing jersey since being claimed by the Wild this off-season. And forward Chuck Kobasew will be dressed for the Wild tonight after missing the previous four games with a lower-body, as he squares-off against his former teammates. The Wild are just 1-2-2 in their last five games, stand alone in last place in the Northwest Division, and 14th in the Western Conference. If history is to repeat itself for Boston, then the advantage would go to Minnesota in this one, despite the Wild’s woes this season. The Bruins are 1-8-0 lifetime against the Wild, including a 0-2-0 record in their two contests last season. Manny Fernandez took both losses last season against his former club, while Niklas Backstrom backstopped the Wild to both victories — including a 28 save blanking of the B’s, 1-0, on Jan. 6, 2009 at the TD Garden. Last year, the B’s lost to the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on the eve of Turkey day, then went on to win 15 of their next 16 games. Tuukka Rask should get his fifth consecutive start tonight in St. Paul, MN. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas has been on the bench as back-up to Rask, with a minor hand injury, and could return to action on Friday against the New Jersey Devils. Rask has gone 3-1-1 in lieu of Thomas’ injury with a .912 save-percentage and 2.50 goals-against average. Bruins M.V.P.-to-date Patrice Bergeron has been red-hot during Boston’s recent road trip. In the past three games away from home, No. 37 has five points, a plus-2 rating, 10 shots on net, and has won nearly 60-percent of the face-off draws. The Bruins will have another healthy lineup tonight, aside from Thomas, as Milan Lucic enters his fourth game back from a broken index finger (2-0-2, plus-1, five shots on goal) and all star center Marc Savard will play in his second since recovering from a broken left foot. Johnny Boychuk and Vladimir Sobotka are likely the healthy scratches, again. As for the Wild, Martin Havlat is close to returning from a hamstring injury, but most likely not tonight. Brent Burns, Pert Sykora, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are all out with concussions. Bruins’ line combinations: Sturm-Savard-Bitz Lucic-Bergeron-Recchi Wheeler-Krejci-Ryder Thornton-Begin-Paille Chara-Morris Ference-Wideman Hunwick-Stuart Rask Thomas Action begins at 8pm EST.
Contact mark.marino@prohockeynews.com
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