Jesus, you guys might be worse off than us on defense. That's hard to believe.
Benn has been rather disappointing this season, outside of the first 3 games. He just seems lazy and doesn't have the same energy level he's had before. He's still producing at a decent rate and he'll have a shift every now and then where he looks as dominant as ever (the shift where he crushed Seth Jones twice comes to mind). But a lot of us fear that this might be signaling a decline in his game like most power forwards endure. That remains to be seen.
It certainly will be interesting to see what are likely the two best lines in hockey right now go head to head. Radulov wasn't healthy the last time we played each other this season.
Jeez the Bruins have been hit hard. I mean we have been hit too but still at least have 2 of our top 3 dmen
Benn has been meh. Showed a little more energy on this home stand but he plays lazy hockey until after the all-star break so it's not too surprising. Radulov coming back has and certainly will help.
As for the Stars defense, Carrick, Johns, and Klingberg are all out long term (Klingberg 5-6 weeks now up from 3-4) and Methot is out at least another week. Bayreuther is making his NHL debut, Honka sucks, Polak has been decent but not good enough for the 20+ minutes he will get tonight, and Hanley is a career AHL player.
I'm a fan of Benn but am never too sure which one I'll get to watch. The 'lazy' factor goes back to juniors - so it happens. One of my favourites of all-time was Kent Nilsson was kinda the same way. Probably the only player that could've challenged Gretzky (he was that good) but only tried every once in awhile. Don't think it's the power forward aspect. Hopefully he gets engaged for you guys sooner than later. - still a win/win trade - McQuaid for a 4th rounder (Benn)
As much as I love both top lines they do have some competition from Colorado also. Been a long time since we've seen one line this dominant - never mind three of them. I was never that impressed with Radulov before but is amazing that he's turned it on for you guys to that degree.
Hopefully they go best on best tonight.
Last year it was Boston and Anaheim battling for worst injuries for the first half of the season - then this year it's both our defences. Bruins have lost all top 7 defence men already and it's only at the 18 game mark. That's ridiculous. - and you guys haven't been much better off.
p.s. always one of my favourite games against The Stars (as a Bruins fan) - and made me like Modano even more after his post-game reaction
p.p.s. hoping to make my way down there in the spring as I have a lot of friends in Texas and haven't been there in too long and have never taken my kids.
Good luck tonight.