Game Day: Bruins

Big Shooter was feelin' the blues,
he was watchin' the news,
when this fella came on the tv.
He said "I'm tellin' you
that science has proven
that heartaches are healed by the sea."

Well that got both Big Shooter and Razor goin'
without even knowin'
they both packed right up
and drove down.

Now they're on a roll
and they swear to their souls
tonight they're gonna paint this town.

----End bastardization of Garth Brooks song----

Yes friends, Shooter and I will be missing tonight's surely epic rematch between the Thrashers and Bruins in which Milan Lucic and his finger square off against his hero Evander Kane and the rest of the Thrashers. Atlanta gravely needs a win to end their current four game losing streak to have a chance at a rare winning December.

The Thrashers currently stand at 6-7 for the month with tonight's tilt against Boston and tomorrow night's house call in Newark remaining. They built a nice cushion in late November and early December climbing briefly to the top of the Southeast Division and third place in the conference and still sit six points ahead of ninth place Carolina after the four game skid.

This is also the last home game before kids go back to school and is the team's last chance to make a good impression on folks who are making it out during the holidays to their first game. The glorious 7-1 exorcism of the Devils on December 18 seems distant in the past when looking past the 4-2 loss to the Blues and overtime heartbreaker against the Lightning at home. A good emotion-filled win against Marc Savard and the Bruins would go a long way towards keeping some of these seasonal fans.

Despite dropping the last four, the Thrashers haven't played as awful as their usual December Doldrums performances. The Blues game was close and ended with an empty net goal; the Tampa game was decided in overtime with Byfuglien in the box for a bad penalty. Atlanta dominated the first half of the game in Pittsburgh but couldn't deny Sidney Crosby, then fell apart in the third period. The Bruins game was the only ugly performance, but the team showed some fire by mixing it up in the third period.

Look for Cormier to go for a more impactful game tonight than he had in Pittsburgh. After the physical confrontations late in these two teams' last meeting, he has a chance to set the tone early with a big hit.