Game of the Night (and Preview)

In today's edition, we'll look at the Buffalo/Toronto tilt in which the Slugs, sporting the old blue sweaters, pulled away with a 5-3 victory to keep their playoff aspirations afloat.


I found this game notable in particular because Buffalo was basically two different teams in this one. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead midway through the second only to allow Toronto to battle back to 4-3 at one point. This Toronto team has horrid goaltending, with a 74 year old Curtis Joseph having to be yanked nearly every night, but they are still fighting and we'll see that first hand this evening, when the B's stroll into the Air Canada Center. By the way, the 32 oz. Molsons you get there are fantastic. Buffalo has now strung together 2 wins after managing just 3 points in their previous 7 games and they face Montreal on the road tonight, trailing the Habs by 5 for the last playoff spot in the East.

Tonight's game to watch is the Devils hosting the Whalers in a battle of two very hot teams. After snagging an undeserved point in Chicago last night, the Devils can inch closer to that inevitable Atlantic Division crown and the Whale can push itself just a bit beyond the pack of 6th-10th teams with a victory of their own. Let's hope Brind'Amor decides to crush Parise inexplicably in this one, because i'm sick of looking at the Devils in the rearview.

Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, the B's are finally back in action after one of the more unusual scheduling glitches you'll ever see post February (a 6 day layoff due, in large part, to the NCAA regionals at the Garden). The Bruins needed this rest, forgetting about any potential momentum from the smackdown they showed the Devils last Sunday, and I look for them come out strong against the reeling, but still dangerous, Leafs. Watch Wideman tonight, though, as his groin injury from 07-08 is supposedly flaring again and his health is crucial to our success on even strength play, as evidenced by the +32 rating (not to mention his 23 PP points).

We'll try to post a GNH between tonight's game and the Flyers game tomorrow, but don't hold your breath!

Go B's!