The Penguins have played Boston twice this season and lost both in December. The first came on December 16th in Sullivan's first game as Penguins coach so he will be desperate for some revenge. Pittsburgh lost the other game 3-0 so they have ground to make up on Boston.
The Bruins go into this game following a 6-4 loss against the struggling Columbus but are right in the mix with the Penguins, occupying the other Wild Card spot ahead of them. Boston sit on 70 points after 60 with Pittsburgh on 68 through 58 games. This game will have big implications on the play-off teams come the end of the season.
One point that will give the Penguins a bit more confidence going into this game is that the Bruins haven't been good on home ice this season. They've won one in their last five and are 12-15-3 at home so far this season. In that is included an embarrassing 9-2 loss to the LA Kings.
The Bruins have one of the best goaltenders in the league however in Tuukka Rask. He seemingly improves his play against the Penguins and in his career he is 7-5-1 with a 2.16 GAA and .929SV%. With Pittsburgh without Malkin again it will be hard to break him down and Crosby has definitely had little help carrying the team recently.
Crosby had been helped lately by the depth goals from Wilson but no-one on the second line has really stood up and that is worrying. One key factor that will decides who wins will be if the Penguins can keep the Bruins off the powerplay. They have the 4th best in the league so it would be nice if they could avoid giving them any easy shots. Puck drop is 7:30.
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