St. Pierre sent back to Providence

Martin St. Pierre has been sent back to Providence. This move means Peteri Nokelainen is ready to return to action on Thursday. The Bruins now have 12 healthy forwards on the current roster. With the demotion of St. Pierre, who was averaging 1 minute and 10 seconds of penalty kill time, Vladmir Sobotka may see additional time on the PK.

Today's Practice

From Fluto's daily blog

The Bruins have started their noon practice. The only lineup change is P.J. Axelsson skating on the top line with Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. Milan Lucic has been dropped to the third line with Stephane Yelle and Chuck Kobasew.

Petteri Nokelainen is skating with the fourth line.

ANALYSIS: Putting Ward back with Chara means the Bruins will have their top shutdown pair intact again. The other move Claude Julien made today was to switch Milan Lucic and P.J. Axelsson. For the last two games, Lucic has not performed like a first-line player. This is most likely a temporary move, with the aim to get Lucic back on his game with the third line, then reclaim his spot with Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. Julien did the same thing at the start of the season after Lucic had a poor training camp

Interesting move putting Axelsson back on the top line. I noticed in last night's game Lucic only had one shift on the powerplay while Axelsson and St. Pierre logged over two minutes a piece on the man advantage. Does Julien think that this will light a fire under Milan Lucic, a la Phil Kessel? Or does he think Axelsson will suddenly find a scoring touch? Either way, while I believe switching up lines and mixing is matching is always a good thing, especially to keep players fresh and interested throughout the course of an 82 game schedule, this is a move I hate to see. I love what Lucic brings to the first line. Putting Axelsson up there will only hurt Savard and Kessel offensively, something we have seen happen over the previous three season. The first line has been great during 5 on 5 action (Savard + 23 Lucic and Kessel +17), and with the addition of Axelsson this will hurt their overall production. They do not need a "defensive specialist" on this line since all three have played solid in the three zones so far this year.

Mr. Clutch - Michael Ryder

After a slow start Michael Ryder is really starting to impress and show why the Bruins signed him to a 3 year 12 million dollar deal. Ryder now has 14 goals and 12 assists while also recording a league leading 7 game winning goals. His projected stats have him on pace for 32 goals and 27 assists, which would be his career high for goals scored in a single season. Playing on a line with a dynamic playmaker like David Krejci, Ryder is showing that he can be that true sniper the Bruins envisioned him as when they targeted him during the offseason. In his previous 14 games, Ryder has tallied 11 goals and 4 assists. The continued success of the second line is a major reason that this team continues to win all different types of games. They can now win by blowout, outscore their opponent in a high scoring match or win late in a tightly battled game with that clutch goal, something that they desperately needed last season. When it is all said and done, even all the doubters at the beginning of this season will agree that signing Michael Ryder was an excellent decision.

Bruins continue to roll

First off I want to apologize for the lack of posts. I was on a cruise and just returned to Boston this morning. While I was gone the Bruins extended their Eastern Conference lead and now have the same amount of points as the San Jose Sharks. During that time they went 4-0-0 outscoring their opponents 14-5. I did not get a chance to see any of the games but followed the boxscores and game summaries. To no surpise, Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez continue to impress with split action. Aaron Ward is now off IR and played in the most recent game against Alanta. Peteri Noklelainen is also off IR and looks to play in the game against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Patrice Bergeron has been dignosed with a concussion and will be out indefinitely. If anyone has any updates that I missed it would be appreciated.

Sturm will play tonight

Marco Sturm will play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He missed 11 games due to a neck injury. He will skate on the fourth line with Yelle and Thornton. Tim Thomas is starting in net.

Mats Sundin: Would you be interested?

If Sundin would consider coming here, would you sign him for a prorated deal that takes up 1-2 million in cap space?  

We are a legit contender thus far, we have a ton of talent and we aren't a media circus (for hockey).

I think we are a better option than New York, Montreal or any other team in the East.

So, How do you like Ryder?

He is on pace for around 30 goals and seems much more comfortable with Krejci and Wheeler.  4 million for him doesn't seem too bad anymore.  How do you all feel?

No Bergeron Tonight; Karsums recalled ; Sturm to LTIR

Patrice Bergeron is out for tonight's game with the flu. Martin Karsums has been recalled from Providence and will skate tonight on the fourth unit. To make room on the active roster, Marco Sturm was placed on the long term injury replacement list retroactive to November 17th. A simple recall of Karsums would have put the Bruins over the current salary cap maximum. The Bruins also have Matt Lashoff and Vladmir Sobotoka as extra position players on the current roster, and recalling another player would have made them exceed the cap. Therefore, the move was made. The good news is that a player on LTIR has to miss either 24 days or 10 games. Sturm has missed over 24 days, meaning he will be able to return next game against Toronto, assuming he is ready to play. Additionally, no Nokelainen or Ward for tonight's game. Manny Fernandez is starting in goal. Here is the rest of the lineup:

Lucic-Savard-Kessel
Wheeler-Krejci-Ryder
Axelsson-Yelle-Kobasew
Thornton-Sobotoka-Karsums

Stuart-Chara
Hunwick-Wideman
Lashoff-Hnidy

Manny

Chew on these numbers

-The Bruins have the 2nd most points in the league with 40 in 26 games played, tied with Detroit, trailing on San Jose who has 46 in 27.

-The Bruins have the 2nd highest point percentage at .769, tied with Detroit and trailing only San Jose at .852.

-The Bruins have the 4th best GPG at 3.35. Only San Jose (3.70), Detroit (3.54), and Chicago (3.38) are ahead of them.

-The Bruins are the 1st in GAPG at 2.00. Minnesota is 2nd at 2.15 and in 3rd is Ottawa at 2.33.

-The Bruins are 1st in 5 v 5 goal ratio at 1.82. In 2nd is New Jersey 1.59 and in 3rd is San Jose at 1.34.

-The Bruins have the 7th best PP in the league clicking at 22.8%, but they are towards the bottom of the league in PP chances.

-The Bruins have the 11th ranked PK at 83.2%, but have killed 90+% since early in the season when they were ranked last.

-The Bruins ranked 11th in SOG a game at 30.6 a game. Detroit and San Jose are tied first with 36.1 per.

-Surprisingly, the Bruins are ranked 22nd in SAG at 30.8 per game. Most of these shots are from the outside though and more a product of the system.

-When scoring first, the Bruins are ranked 14th by winning 70.6% of the time. Nashville is first when scoring first with a 84.6 winning percentage.

-The Bruins are ranked 2nd when allowing the first goal, winning 66.7% of the games. San Jose is 1st by winning 81.8% of the time.

-The Bruins are ranked 17th when leading after 1, winning 70% of the time. Nashville, Ottawa and Dallas are first, winning 100% of those games.

-The Bruins are ranked 14th when leading after 2, winning 86.7% of the time. Atlanta, Anaheim and Colorado are 1st by winning 100% of those games.

-The Bruins are ranked 9th when winning games in which they outshoot the opponent, at 64.3%. Atlanta is first with winning 100% of those games.

-The Bruins are ranked 2nd, tied with Anaheim, when being outshot, winning 75% of those games. San Jose is first by winning 100% of those games.

-The Bruins are ranked 4th in Faceoff %, winning 52.7% of the time. Detroit is 1st with 54.9%.

-The Bruins have 6 of the top 6 +/- players, all forwards (Wheeler 2nd, +16, Savard 3rd, +15, Krejci 3rd, +15, Wideman 5th, +13, Lucic 6th, +12, Hunwick 6th, +12)

-Phil Kessel is 3rd in the league in scoring with 16 in 26 gp, on pace of 50 goals.

-Marc Savard is tied 4th in the league in scoring with 32 points.

-Marc Savard is 3rd in the league with assists, having 24.

-Milan Lucic is 1st in the NHL in hits

-Lucic is 20th in PIM with 53.

-Michael Ryder is 2nd in the league with 4 GWG

-Blake Wheeler is 4th in the league with S%, finding twine on 24.3% of his shots.

-Zdeno Chara is ranked 4th in the NHL on TOI (26:10) and Wideman 16th (24:58)

-Tim Thomas is first in the league with a 1.83 GAA and 2nd with a .942 sv %.

-Manny Fernandez is 7th in the league with a 2.07 GAA and 5th in the league with a .926 sv %

-THE MOST TELLING STAT OF ALL........The Bruins are a +33 goals to goals against...The only other team with atleast a plus 20....San Jose with a +38.

Chew on those....