The Bruins took to the ice here at TD Garden this morning looking like a hungry bunch. It also seemed that familiar surroundings were just what the doctor ordered for the club, and there were smiles and the odd joke between the players as they went through some shooting and one-on-one drills.
Coach Claude Julien was tight lipped about lineup change possibilities, and the defenseman were in black and forwards in white, thus line combinations were not a factor.
No doubt about who will start in goal tonight for Boston. Tim Thomas took limited work and left the ice well before the rest of the team. Mark Recchi did not take the skate this morning and was just getting some more rest ahead of tonight’s contest.
The Bruins skated for about 45 minutes before opening the dressing room to the awaiting media. The thought on all our minds – what do the B’s need to do to get to Roberto Luongo?
“We need to get traffic to the net,” Michael Ryder said, “we need to find ways to score and get some bounces to get them off their game.”
Indeed the Bruins would love to get a few early tonight, with only two goals in two games thus far a bounce-back effort would be huge.
“All year we’ve battled and bounced back,” Ryder stated, “we did it against Montreal, and if we win tonight then it’s a whole new series here.”
No doubt that a loss tonight pretty much seals the Bruins fate, and puts Vancouver just one win away from glory. A big factor being talked about here in the Garden is the home-town crowd and noise tonight for Game 3.
“We expect it to be pretty rowdy and loud,” smiled Brad Marchand, “our fans have been great all year, so looking forward to that tonight. We have a great crowd to feed off, so I think it’s going to be a crazy game.”
If the Bruins can pull off a big home win tonight, then we have the makings of a great series here in the Stanley Cup Final. A loss and we’re just looking at damage control. From what I experienced in the Boston dressing room here this morning, it looks like the team has no intention of giving up after two tough losses in Vancouver.
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