Who Knew A Bruins & Bolts Game Could Be So Important?

Mark Recchi and the B's march into Tampa tonight for a battle for eighth with Marty St. Louis and the Bolts.

After rattling off two straight wins and ending a ten-game long losing streak, the Boston Bruins sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference and are just two points out of the eighth seed. Basically, they avoided calamity for now and are right back in the thick of a crowded Eastern Conference. Among those teams in the chase for the bottom four spots in the Playoffs are the Tampa Bay Lightning, who currently sit in the eighth seed, and wouldn’t ‘ya know it, it’s going to be the Bruins and Bolts tonight in Tampa in a battle for the sole possession of the final playoff spot, for now.

Riding the hot hand with Tuukka Rask, the Boston Bruins have excelled in the ‘pressure’ aspect of play with their return to great offensive looks and an even more impressive shutdown defensive game. In four straight starts for the Bruins, Rask is 2-0-2 and has a .956 save percentage including his latest 43-save effort against the Northeast-leading Buffalo Sabres. Acting as an impenetrable wall for the Bruins, the Bolts will be countering with fellow Finnish goaltender and former-Flyer Antero Niittymaki.

Signed over the off-season to replace never-ending list of Tampa back-up’s in 2008-09, the results of Niittymaki since donning the black and blue have without question exceeded the expectations he arrived with. Battling with the ill-tempered Mike Smith for the role of starter on Rick Tocchet’s Bolts, and apparently surpassing him, Niittymaki has not lost in regulation since January 19th and has gone 7-0-1 in his last eight starts with an unearthly 1.08 goals against average over that span.

With these two goaltenders leading their team in the right direction in the crease as opposed to their usual spot on the end of the bench,  just which Finnish “back-up” has the advantage in net in tonight’s contest?

Besides the obvious need for the Bruins to keep on rolling with their winning ways for a strong finish before the Olympic break, tonight’s match-up is beyond crucial in terms of moving up into the eighth seed with an advantage over the Lightning in terms of tie-breakers. With both clubs playing in their 59th game of the 2009-10 season tonight, the Bruins currently have 25 wins compared to the Bolts’ 26, and with both clubs having 11 overtime losses a Boston regulation win would push the B’s ahead of the Lightning with a 2-1 season-series lead over the Bolts.

Related YouTube Video of the Night

Bruins forward Byron Bitz and Tampa Bay tough-guy Zenon Konopka got into a scrap in the last match-up back on December 28th, 2009. It’s a weak related video of the night, but hey, blame YouTube for not realizing how pivotal these Lightning vs. Bruins game will be. What the heck kind of name is Zenon anyhow?

Stats to Note & Players to Watch

* Bruins winger Mark Recchi has three assists in three games against the Lightning since being traded from Tampa Bay to Boston last year. The return for Recchi, Martins Karsums and Matt Lashoff, have yet to appear in a game for the 2009-10 Lightning and have been fizzling for the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League.

* In six games since returning from a leg injury, Marco Sturm has three goals and four points.

* Matt Hunwick has a whopping zero points in his last 13 games and is a -5 over that span.

* Steven Stamkos is currently riding a 10-game point streak and has seven goals in the streak.

* The subject of many trade rumors, Martin St. Louis had the game-winning goal against the Bruins back on December 28th.

* Despite sputtering through October and November with just 5 goals, Vincent Lecavalier now sits with 15 on the season. To put that in perspective as to just how miserable the Boston offense has been, he’d be second on the Bruins and just three behind Marco Sturm for the team lead.

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