Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Boston Bruins (1-0-0, two points) and Detroit Red Wings (0-0-0) faceoff live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The game can be live streamed here. Boston fans can hear all of the action on WBZ 1030 while Detroit fans can do the same on 97.1 The Ticket.
Boston looks to go 2-0 after picking up a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in their season-opener Wednesday while Detroit opens up its second campaign in the Eastern Conference and will be out for revenge after losing to Boston in five games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
The Bruins got a lift from center Chris Kelly, who scored the game-winner Wednesday night against the Flyers after missing the postseason last spring due to injury.
"I just wanted to go out there and feel good and enjoy it," Kelly said, according to NHL.com. "Last year was taken away from me and made me realize how much I missed the game and want to be out there playing. I just tried to enjoy the whole night and tried to play my game. For sure there's no better feeling."
Reilly Smith also scored for Boston in the win while Tuukka Rask made 19 saves on 20 shots.
The Red Wings finished 39-28-15 with 93 points to clinch a wild-card berth last season, but they fell to the Bruins in the opening round of their 23rd consecutive playoff appearance. Detroit has a nice blend of youth and veterans that it hopes will help it clinch a 24th straight postseason berth.
Detroit had a quiet offseason as far as arrivals are concerned, but it also parted ways with some veteran players. The team will rely on the veteran leadership of guys like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall when healthy while young players such as Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and others will also be relied upon as they continue to grow in the league.
Datsyuk (shoulder) will miss tonight's game and could be out for some time.
Kronwall was tied for the team lead last season with 49 points off of eight goals and a team-best 41 assists while Nyquist put up 28 tallies and 20 helpers to rank second on the team with 48 points.
In net, the Red Wings turn to Jimmy Howard, who is coming off of a season where he posted his worst save percentage (.910) since 2010-11 while going 21-19-11 and adding a 2.66 goals-against average.
With Detroit being ousted from the playoffs in April, the team is anxious to start the new season.
That's the longest break that I've had in my career," Howard told the team's website Wednesday. "A lot of us are chomping at the bit to get back out there."
Two Atlantic Division rivals go head-to-head when the puck drops on the Bruins and Red Wings tonight at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
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