NHL Thursday Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers
There are 11 matchups scheduled to take place throughout the National Hockey League (NHL) on Thursday, October 20, 2011, of which many are exciting and have many hopes vested in them, while others are between competitors looking to make a comeback and sort out the problems they have had in the new season thus far.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins (7:00 PM ET)
Toronto Maples Leafs will be playing their first on-the-road game of the season after having played five straight at home since it began and amazingly, only having lost once during the series against Colorado Avalanche.
Other than that, it will be the first of six meetings between Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs when they go head-to-head at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and since both are the Original Six rivals, the match will be all that more exciting.
Coming out of a Stanley Cup winning season, the Bruins sure have not looked like a championship team up until now, having won only two in the past six contests, the team is looking more like an inexperienced group of players, but that does not bother coach, Claude Julien.
"We don't expect anyone to feel sorry for us, because who would"? Julien said. "We just came off a Stanley Cup championship. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. So it's just a matter of taking it upon yourselves as a team to battle your way out of it. Let's not feel sorry for ourselves. Let's just show our character, which we've shown many times before, and battle our way out of it. I know this team will do that".
For Toronto, a number of players like Joffrey Lupul and Luke Schenn have been performing well for them along with their goalie, James Reimer, but it is Phil Kessel, Boston’s former fifth overall pick during the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, that has wowed everyone.
With 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in five games, Kessel stands first in the league for scoring and does not plan on slowing down any time soon.
The Bruins are still missing David Krejci which has hampered their performance while Marc Savard has also been announced as being out for the season with a concussion.
Since Maple Leafs have a number of teammates working together to get those valuable goals during the match, Toronto will surely have an edge on the 2011 Stanley Cup champs come Thursday.
Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7:00 PM ET)
With Washington perfect in their start to the 2011-2012 regular season having won five straight and Philadelphia only suffering a lost in overtime during the past five, both teams have a lot at stake entering Thursday’s matchup at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
In simple words, the Capitals and Flyers will ultimately be battling it out for those valuable two points in order to break the ties with a number of other teams and take the top spot in the Western Conference.
With captain Alex Ovechkin not producing high numbers like expected, Washington has still managed to play well as a team as centre, NIcklas Backstrom taking lead and scoring four points in the past three contests for a total of six points (1 goal, 5 assists).
Veteran player, Chris Pronger, on the other hand, is the go-to-guy for Philadelphia and has been stepping up when other seem down.
It will be exciting to see who can take the lead and maintain their record when both teams meet on Thursday.
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