The Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings were two of the NHL’s top teams last season, but neither club has carried that level of play into 2009-10. The Red Wings do have a solid performance to build on as they return home Tuesday night to face the Bruins, who are slumping offensively without two of their biggest stars.Although San Jose won the Presidents’ Trophy last season, Boston and Detroit were the only other teams to top 110 points, and the Red Wings came within one win of their second straight Stanley Cup. Injuries and inconsistency have plagued both teams in the early going, however, as the Bruins (6-6-1, 6-7 SU) are still without back-to-back victories and Detroit is having problems in net. The Red Wings (5-4-3, 5-7 SU) hope a 2-0-1 finish to a five-game road trip will help them get on track, especially after an impressive 3-1 win over Calgary on Saturday night. Pavel Datsyuk assisted on the winner and has eight points in five games since missing time with an upper-body injury.
“We skated well and maybe for the first time all year we were a five-man unit and made some nice plays,” coach Mike Babcock said. “I liked the goals we scored and the way we went about our business tonight.” Despite winning two of last three on the road, the Red Wings are 3-9 after playing three consecutive road games over the last two seasons.
After getting pulled from his previous start seven minutes in, Chris Osgood benefited from a strong defensive effort, making 20 saves and lowering his goals-against average to 3.10.
“Ozzy played real well but I thought we helped him out on a lot of the rebounds too,” defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. “I thought we played with a lot more desperation too.” Backup Jimmy Howard has twice relieved Osgood and made three starts, but he has also struggled, going 1-2-1 with a 3.42 GAA. Detroit is 37-17 facing a club with a losing SU record.
The Bruins have had big problems in the offensive end and appear to be feeling the absence of injured top-line forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic. Boston has three goals in its last three games, suffering a 1-0 road loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday.
“We played hard,” coach Claude Julien said. “We did everything, except right now we’re just not scoring goals.
“Until that happens, we’re going to be dealing with these types of games. It becomes frustrating for everybody.” Boston is 6-1 in next contest after scoring two or fewer goals.
After finishing second in the NHL behind Detroit with 3.29 goals per game last season, the Bruins have averaged 2.38 this season - 26th in the league. Boston was 0 for 5 on the power play in New York and went 2 for 36 in the last 11 games.
Among the players the Bruins would like more production from is center David Krejci, who has five points this season after breaking out for 73 in 2008-09. Krejci had a goal and an assist in Boston’s 4-1 home victory over the Red Wings on Nov. 29, the teams’ only meeting last season.
Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, a native of Davison, Mich., is likely to make his second appearance in his home state. He won 6-3 in Detroit on March 11, 2007. The Bruins went 3-0-1 in their last four visits to Joe Louis Arena. Another victory would extend the club’s trend of alternating wins and losses in its first 13 games this season.
Bookmaker.com has Detroit as -150 money line favorites, with total Ov5.5 and +197 (-1.5) on the puck line. The Red Wings for years has whipped non-conference opposition at Joe Louis Arena with 92-37 record. They are 18-9 UNDER in non-conference home games since last year. This is Boston’s third game in four nights and they are 12-4 when this occurs. The Bruins are 12-4 UNDER in road encounters after allowing two goals or less in consecutive outings.
The VERSUS Network has this matchup starting at 7 Eastern, with the UNDER 7-1 in last eight meetings between these teams.
StatFox Power Line – Detroit -143 and Under
Mike Lipka, STATS Writer contributed to this article.
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