Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Boston Bruins (3-2-0) and Florida Panthers (2-5-0) go one-on-one live from the BB&T Center in Florida. The game can be live streamed here. Boston fans can hear all the bone-crunching action on the radio at WEEI 93.7 FM while Florida fans can do the same by turning their dials to 560 WQAM
All eyes will be in the Florida Panthers crease as Tim Thomas faces his former team for the first time ever as a member of the Florida Panthers, while Tuukka Rask, who took over Thomas' job after serving as his backup for five seasons, will try to lead Boston to victory. Thomas helped lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011 while winning 196 career games with Boston and earning a Conn Smythe Trophy as well as two Vezina Trophies.
Rask has been on fire, having allowed just seven goals through the first five games and only allowing one multi-goal game against him thus far this season. Rask is 3-2-0 with a 1.41 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage on the year. Thomas will make his first start since he was sidelined with a groin injury Oct. 8 against the Philadelphia Flyers, and has sported a 1-2-0 record with a 5.05 GAA and a .850 save percentage.
Rask's first game where he allowed more than one goal in a 3-2 loss to Detroit came mostly due to defensive lapses.
"We didn't score goals," defenseman Torey Krug told NHL.com. "That's what we're judged on. They can say we had great puck movement, but that doesn't matter because our job is to score goals and get momentum for our team. They did a good job of blocking shots. I had a few that were blocked myself and I got to do a better job of getting pucks to the net. We got to score goals."
The Panthers have dropped five of six games since a season-opening win, and embark on a six-game homestand that they hope will get off on the right track against Boston tonight. Florida is coming off a frustrating loss to the Nashville Predators where the team held its own until a couple of late goals closed the door on them.
"We had some chances at 4-3," said Jonathan Huberdeau, who scored Florida's first goal, according to NHL.com. "We missed some chances at the end. Markstrom kept us in it. You have to take the positives from this game. We had a good effort."
Huberdeau has three goals and an assist for four points for Florida, which has been paced by Tomas Fleischmann's seven points that stem from a goal and six assists. Brad Boyes leads the Panthers in goals with four and has added two assists for six points while Aleksander Barkov has notched two tallies and three helpers for five points.
Meanwhile, Boston has been led by Milan Lucic, who has three goals and two assists for five points while David Krejci leads the team with four assists for four points.
Two former teammates collide when Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins take on Tim Thomas and the Florida Panthers when the puck drops at the BB&T Center in Florida tonight.
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