Boston Bruins play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs
The first game of Tuesday will be hosted by the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden as the home team is up against the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is the fourth meeting between the two sides out of the scheduled six meeting due to take place during the course of
the season.
Boston Bruins won the first game 2-0 with the second game decided in shootout and was won by Toronto Maple Leafs. The third and most recent meeting between the two sides took place on the 3rd of January 2011 which was won by the Bruins 2-1 in
the end. An interesting face ahead of the game is that Bruins have been very successful playing home against the Maple Leafs as they have won the last six consecutive home games against the Maple Leafs.
Both teams have been struggling and will be looking to improve from their current form. Both teams have lost the last two games they have played with the Maple Leafs desperate for a win as they have lost six out of their last seven games playing away. Currently,
they maintain a record of 10-16-1 while playing away and they definitely need to improve if they are looking for a play-off spot.
Toronto Maple Leafs hasn’t been able to get themselves into the play-offs for quite some time now. The last time they were in the play-offs was way back in 2004 and this season looks another one of the seasons after 2004. Though they still have a chance
of making it into the cut but the inconsistent and disappointing performance they display say that it might be difficult. Maple Leafs are currently ten points behind the final play-off finishing team, Carolina Hurricanes.
There have been good signs in the Maple Leafs campaign as forward Mike Brown skated during practice on Monday after recovering from the injury he sustained. However, defenseman Dion Phaneuf sat out during the practice.
"Just did a little passing and shooting with our strength coach, but it felt pretty good," Brown said. "It's definitely getting better every day."
Both the teams have played 56 games of their respective season so far. Out of this, Maple Leafs have won 23 games in regulation time, 6 games in overtime and scored 52 points. Bruins on the other hand have won 31 of their 56 games in regulation time, 7 games
in overtime and scored 69 points.
Though the Bruins are leading the Northeast Division with 69 points but they need to step up their game if they want any chance of remaining on top with the Montreal Canadiens fast approaching who are on 68 points. Bruins were involved in a very close game
which saw them winning 8-6 against the Canadiens.
However, double games between the Detroit Red Wings and the Bruins saw them losing both games with a combined score of 10-3. "We watched them because I think we were flat," Coach Claude Julien said. "We weren't skating tonight. We were second on the puck,
and even when they had the puck I just felt that they had lots of time to make plays. We were very slow reacting."
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