3:00p ET, TD Garden
Boston, MA
TV: NBC
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Bruin Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder
The Red Wings earned their split in Game 1. As the underdog, if you can win Game 1 or 2, you put a hell of a lot of pressure on the favorite. The Bruins, while they won’t admit it, are probably feeling it a little bit right now. Once that puck drops though… everything is 0-0 all over again.
Detroit needs to play like they’re the ones down 1-0 in the series. They need to continue to embrace that underdog role. Boston is going to come out flying and trying to hit everything. The spearing incident is just the beginning. The Bruins want to get under the Red Wings’ skin. They want the Wings to retaliate. They want more scrums… more big hits… more bullshit.
The best thing Mike Babcock’s squad can do is… nothing.
Don’t give the Bruins the emotional boost. They thrive off that. They take their games to a whole ‘nother and that’s when things will get ugly for Detroit. Just stick with the system and play a clean game. That’ll surely frustrate the hell out of them.
The Wings still have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Pressure is on you, Boston.
The Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Johan Franzen | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Jurco | Darren Helm | Daniel Alfredsson |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | David Legwand |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Brendan Smith |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brian Lashoff | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Jonas Gustavsson |
Scratches: Todd Bertuzzi & Joakim Andersson
Injuries: Jonathan Ericsson (finger), Daniel Cleary (knee), Stephen Weiss (groin), Henrik Zetterberg (back) & Mikael Samuelsson (upper body)
Opponent Outlook
Forwards
| Milan Lucic | David Krejci | Jarome Iginla |
| Brad Marchand | Patrice Bergeron | Reilly Smith |
| Justin Florek | Carl Soderberg | Loui Eriksson |
| Shawn Thornton | Gregory Campbell | Jordan Caron |
Defensemen
| Zdeno Chara | Dougie Hamilton |
| Johnny Boychuk | Matt Bartkowski |
| Kevan Miller | Torey Krug |
Goaltenders
| Tuukka Rask (starting) |
| Chad Johnson |
Scratches: Andrej Meszaros & Corey Potter
Injuries: Chris Kelly (upper body), Daniel Paille (concussion)
Bullets of Knowledge
- The Red Wings are 13-5 all-time in Game 2’s under Mike Babcock. They’re 9-3 after winning Game 1./
- Boston is 9-5 all-time in Game 2’s under Claude Julien. They’re 3-3 after losing Game 1./
- Howard is 5-2 all-time in Game 2’s./
Prediction: Cup check.
