I’m sure the Bruins are the happiest team in the NHL to see January finally end. After losing 3-2 in the shootout last night to the LA Kings, Boston finished with a  3-10-1 record for the month – including a 0-6-1 record in the final half. The B’s schedule gets no easier this week, as they play games two through four of a four-game home-stand, against some serious competition.

Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010: Practice

• The Bruins are scheduled for a rare Sunday practice at Ristuccia Arena, at 11:30am EST. Ristuccia Arena is located at 190 Main St. Wilmington, MA. and is free to the general public.

Monday, Feb. 1, 2010: Practice

• Schedule for 10:30am EST at Ristuccia Arena.

Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010: Bruins vs. Washington Capitals – 7pm EST at the TD Garden

• The Bruins will be seeking revenge in this one, after losing 4-1 to the Caps in the season opener on Oct. 1 2009, at the TD Garden. The Capitals are the hottest team in the league – winning their last nine, while outscoring opponents 45-19 during that span – and are 12-2-0 in January. Washington [36-12-6, 78 points, 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference] hosts the Tampa Bay Lighting on Sunday afternoon, so there’s a solid chance they end the month with another “W”.

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010: Practice

• Schedule for 11:30am EST at Ristuccia Arena

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010: Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens – 7pm EST at the TD Garden

• The B’s lost 2-1 in a shootout in their first of two meetings with the Habs, at the TD Gardenon Nov. 5; and a 5-1 debacle on Dec. 4.  inorth of the border. Montreal posts a 25-25-6 record this season [56 points, 3rd Northeast Division, 8th Eastern Conference] and will host the Western Conference, Vancouver Canucks, on Tuesday night. Les Canadiens went 4-8-1 for the month of January, so these are two-points that are very possible, and necessary, for the Black and Gold.

• Boston will be wearing their Third Uniform System, and are 3-4-1 this season wearing such uniforms.

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010: Practice

• Schedule for 11:30am EST at Ristuccia Arena.

Saturday, Feb, 6, 2010: Bruins vs. Vancouver Canucks – 1pm EST at the TD Garden

• One of the hottest teams in the West. And to put it bluntly, this game – along with Washington’s game on Tuesday – will be a true testament if boys in Black and Gold are in fact a legitimate team to make a legitimate run into the playoffs. The Canucks are loaded on offense with the Sedin twins and Alexandre Burrows – name just a few – and are backstopped by one of the NHL’s best goaltenders in Roberto Luongo. Vancouver notched a 10-3-0 record in January, and 7-0-0 in their last seven while outscoring their opponents 29-15 during that span.

• Boston will be wearing their Winter Classic Vintage Uniforms in this game. The B’s are 1-1-0 while sporting these Classics.

Tonight marks the 127th contest between Boston and Los Angeles in their lifetime series – and second time this season – as the Bruins host the LA Kings at the TD Garden at 7pm EST. The Bruins hold a 78-33-14-1 lifetime record against the Kings while outscoring them 235-220.

These two teams first squared-off exactly two weeks ago at LA’s Staples Center, when the Kings rallied back to beat the B’s 4-3 in a shootout.

Away team: LA Kings (31-19-3, 65 points, 3rd Pacific Division Division, 6th Western Conference, 17-10-1 away, 6-4-0 last 10 games)

The Kings are 4-1-0 since the last meeting with the Bruins on Jan. 16., and 6-1-0 in their last seven. That now makes Los Angeles  just two points away from tying the Phoenix Coyotes [67] for second-place in the Pacific Division – fourth overall in the West – and one-point away from the fifth seed, Colorado Avalanche [65].

• 8th in the NHL in goals-for per game – 2.89
• 13th in the league with 2.72 goals-against average
• 18.5% on the power play for 13th overall
• 24th overall in the NHL with a 79.6% success rate on the penalty kill
• 7th in the league with a team plus-11

Anze Kopitar: 3-4-7, plus-5, 21 shots on goal last five games – and on a four-game point streak.
Drew Doughty: 1-5-6, plus-5, 11 shots in last five – three-game point streak.
Dustin Brown: two-game assist streak, 0-4-4, plus-2 during that span.
Jarret Stoll: two-game point streak, 1-2-3, plus-2 over those two games.
Ryan Smyth: 3-2-5, plus-6, 15 shots on goal in his last five – including a two-game point streak.
Wayne Simmonds: 1-4-5 in his last five games, with a plus-2 and 10 shots on net.
Jonathan Quick has won his last four consecutive starts with a .925 save-percentage.

Home Team: Boston Bruins (23-21-8, 54 points, 12th Eastern Conference, 4th Northeast Division, 13-11-3 at home, 1-8-1 last 10 games)

• 30th/last in the NHL goals-for with 2.35 – nine goals in their last six
• 6th in the league with 2.44 goals-against average – 21 against in their last six
• 17.3% on the power play for 20th overall – 1-for-17 in their last nine games
• 2nd in the NHL with a 87.2% success rate on the penalty kill – successfully killed 33 of their last 38 times short

The Bruins are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres last night at the HSBC Center, now making it a six-game losing streak – their longest losing streak since Dec. 2007. Despite outshooting the Division-leading Sabres, 31-23, the Bruins came out with maybe a little too much emotion. Having been short-handed three times in the first period, the Bruins would only kill 2-of-3 – the last being the game-winner for Buffalo.

Aside from the penalties early on and and another notch in the “L” column, the Bruins put together a solid effort – puck possession, creating scoring opportunities, along with good defense and goaltending performances.

“Better, unfortunately right now we’re really looking at the end results – and it wasn’t there tonight” Claude Julien said after the game on his team’s performance after four days off. ” Disappointing, but I think our whole game was much better that it has been lately.

“We needed those four days the way we had been playing.” Julien added with the small break entering last night. “So we’ll take those four days as a positive and certainly not use them as an excuse for tonight.”

If the Bruins can put together another effort like they did last night, [while keeping it composed and lighting the lamp a couple more times] there’s a good chance they could put an end to their six-game skid, and the Kings’ four-game streak.

The Buffalo Sabres host the Boston Bruins tonight at the HSBC Arena, for the third of six times this season. The previous two contests were also in Buffalo, as the Bruins went 2-0-0 against the Sabres, and hold a 6-3 scoring edge. Tonight will mark the 275th meeting between the two Northeast Division teams in their lifetime series, with the Bruins holding a 112-101-29-5 record over the Sabres, but Buffalo edging out Boston in the scoring department, 806-802.

The Bruins are also playing in their 12th set of 17  back-to-back games tonight, and tomorrow against LA Kings. Boston is 5-4-2 in games ones, and 5-5-1 in game twos.

Away Team: Boston Bruins (23-20-8, 54 points, 4th Northeast Division, 11th Eastern Conference, 10-9-5 away, 2-7-1 last 10 games)

• 30th/last in the NHL goals-for with 2.37 – eight goals in their last five
• 6th in the league with 2.45 goals-against average – 19 against in their last five
• 17.4% on the power play for 20th overall – 1-for-16 in their last eight games
• 2nd in the NHL with a 87.7% success rate on the penalty kill – successfully killed 30 of their last 34 times short

The Bruins lost their fifth straight home loss, last Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, for first time since Feb. 12 – Mar. 6, 2000 – which ties it  for the second-longest such streak in club history. Entering tonight’s contest, the B’s hold a 17-13-6 record against Eastern Conference teams, and are 8-4-1 against Northeast Division rivals. Boston has nine games remaining in the next 16 calendar days – four against Division opponents and seven total against teams in the East – twice each against Buffalo and Montreal.

Byron Bitz [undisclosed], and Marc Savard [knee] are expected to be in the lineup tonight. Steve Begin [lower-body injury] skated once again yesterday in full participation, but remains questionable tonight. Marco Sturm [leg], who continues to skate, will make the trip to Buffalo to be with the team, but will not play. Claude Julien said of Andrew Ference [groin] “I think he’s feeling better. Hopefully if everything goes well, maybe by next week he can hop in with us and start working his way back.” I bet he doesn’t play again until March.

Home team: Buffalo Sabres (31-14-7, 69 points, 1st Northeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 15-10-1 at home, 6-4-0 last 10 games)

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In the 2006-07 NHL season, the Atlanta Thrashers were destined for its first playoff appearance in franchise history. With centerpieces Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa accounting for 35 percent of the team’s total goals and nearly 30 percent of its total points, general manager Don Waddell did a bit of wheeling-and-dealing to make the postseason push.

Veteran net-minder Johan Hedberg was acquired via free-agency to back-up Finland native, Kari Lehtonen; while posting a nice 9-4-2 record. Journeyman Glen Metropolit was also picked up from free-agency, after spending the previous three seasons playing overseas.

Perhaps the biggest move Waddell made was the trade for Massachusetts’ very own, Keith Tkachuk, from the St. Louis Blues. Atlanta sent Metropolit, a first- and third-round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, and a second-round pick for 2008 to St. Louis for the power forward Tkachuk.

The result for the King’s Ransom? A 12-5-1 record since the acquisition of Tkachuk for the first seed in the Southeast Division [97 points]; the franchise’s first and only playoff appearance; and an early trip to the golf course after being swept in four-straight games by the New York Rangers in round one.

And as for the centerpiece Kovalchuk and Hossa? In four postseason games, the duo combined for 1-2-3 and 25 penalty minutes.

The point of all this in a roundabout way: Although he has been my favorite player since the great Pavel Bure retired; Ilya Kovalchuk is not the answer for the Boston Bruins. Not this year. The trade rumors for this guy is one year too late, as the Bruins’ best chance for a Stanley Cup was last year. Even with the Russian sniper on the Bruins roster, I still don’t believe they are good enough to take out teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, or Washington Capitals in a seven-game series.
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Yesterday afternoon, the Boston Bruins assigned journeyman Trent Whitfield back to their AHL affiliate, Providence Bruins. The 32-year-old center, who was at practice yesterday morning, appeared in 14 games for the NHL Bruins this season, with a 0-1-1 scoring totals, plus-1, seven penalty minutes, and 11 shots on goal.

Having missed the past four games, Bruins’ forward Steve Begin also practiced with the team yesterday, and is expected to participate even more today. The assignment of Whitfield is a good indication that Begin could be ready-to-go tomorrow night against the Sabres.

Guess-timate Lineups:

Lucic – Savard – Satan
Paille – Bergeron – Bitz
Wheeler – Krejci – Ryder
Begin – Sobotka – Thornton

Rask
Thomas

Tim Thomas and the Bruins can only sit and watch teams pass them up the standings.

Well, we knew the worst that could happen was a 13th place Boston Bruins team come Friday night. The right teams won [depending on which way you look at it] tonight – all making their mark up the Eastern Conference standings – as the Bruins can merely sit back, watch, and play the waiting game from 10th place overall in the East.

The Florida Panthers, now 6-2-2 in their last 10 games, slipped by the seventh-place Montreal Canadiens [55 points] tonight at the Bank Atlantic Center, 2-1. The Panthers [55 points] have leapfrogged over the Black and Gold into ninth-place in the Eastern Conference with tonight’s victory – while hanging on to second place in the Southeast Division by a point.

Panthers’ net-minder Tomas Vokoun kicked aside 16 of 17 shots he faced against the Habs, en route to his 18th victory of the season, and a 3-1-1 record in his last five starts.

Still one-point behind the Panthers in the Southeast are the Atlanta Thrashers, who also won tonight, 2-1. Atlanta’s win was backstopped by The Moose, Johan Hedberg, as he stopped 34 of 35 shots the Anaheim Ducks put his way for his 11th “W” of the season. The Thrashers lost a season-high nine straight games [0-6-3] before rolling out a 5-3-2 record in their last 10 contests.

Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers sit in 11th place in the East [54], just one point behind the Bruins, and could leapfrog the B’s on Thursday night as they take on the Flyers in Philadelphia.

It wasn’t a full trifecta tonight against the Bruins, but two-out-of-three was just as bad. The New York Islanders are jockeying for that 11th seed with the Atlanta Thrashers with their 54-points. Let me say that again. Yes, the New York Islanders are just one-point behind the Bruins in the Eastern Conference. The Isles lost their second-straight tonight, 7-2 against the Washington Capitals, remaining in fifth-place in the Atlantic Division.

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The Bruins were scheduled to take the ice this morning at 10:30am at Ristuccia Arena. However, off-ice workouts here held instead.

Byron Bitz, Steve Begin, and Marc Savard took the ice around 11am this morning. All three skaters were wearing white practice jerseys, and were going through passing and shooting drills with assistant coach, Doug Houda.

Passing drills – a cross between the game of pepper and hot potato – with the three players, and coach, in a box inside the face-off circle. Coach Houda then dropped three sticks on the ice for the players to practice on their saucer passes.

Savard taped two hockey sticks in the net – angled with just a small open area in each of the top corners. In the crease was a small board, roughly 3ft. x 1ft. as an added challenge. The three skaters were on the ice for under 30 minutes before calling it a day.

Practice is scheduled again for tomorrow at 10:30am at Ristuccia Arena.

Despite playing back-to-back games – including last night’s 5-1 debacle in Carolina – the Boston Bruins returned for punishing practice at Ristuccia Arena.

There were a handful of players out there early before the zamboni clear and full-practice at 11:30am today. Forwards Byron Bitz [undisclosed] and Marc Savard [knee] warmed-up by taking some shots from the slot – between two tires on the ice – on net-minders Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask, with goaltending coach Bob Essensa Both players participated in full-practice with the team proceeding the pre-drills, along with forward Trent Whitfield and defenseman Adam McQuaid.

Savard and Bitz look as if they will both be playing in Friday’s game against the Division-leading Buffalo Sabres.

Shawn Thornton skating this morning, but left after roughly 45 minutes and did not return. Thornton was banged-up from Saturday’s game against Ottawa [leg] but did log almost 10 minutes of ice time last night against the ‘Canes.

The Bruins’ lineups at Ristuccia Arena today:

White: Daniel Paille – Marc Savard – Miroslav Satan
Gold: Milan Lucic – Patrice bergeron – Mark Recchi
Gray: Blake Wheeler – David krejci – Michael Ryder
Brick: Shawn Thornton – Vladimir Sobotka – Byron Bitz

Non-contact red:
Drew Larman – Trent Whitfield

Defense:
Chara – Morris -Wideman – Stuart – Hunwick – Boychuk – McQuaid

In goal:
Thomas – Rask

Back-to-basics and extra laps was the name of the game today. Head coach Claude Julien worked the skaters pretty good. 2-on-0 breakaways the length of the ice, immediately followed by the same two skating on the back-check with another pair of 2-on-0’s. And the cycle continued for nearly five full minutes.

At the end, a series of laps in 10 second intervals per line. About three laps one way, followed by another two or three laps each the other way around.

Practice ran around 90 minutes today. The Bruins are scheduled to practice the next three days, at Ristuccia Arena, at 10:30am.

It was just a month ago where the Bruins were looking decent – playing well enough for second-place in the Northeast Division, and fifth overall in the East. In fact, their 19-11-7 record [43 points] was just five points away from the top team in the Division – the Buffalo Sabres.

Fast forward 14 games, plus a few injuries, and the Black and Gold have tanked to their nethermost point of the 2009-10 season. After stinking up the RBC Center last night – losing 5-1 against the 29th ranked Carolina Hurricanes – the  Bruins find themselves down four spots into ninth-place overall in the Eastern Conference [54 points].

The Bruins have now dropped eight of their last nine games [1-7-1] and had recorded a pitiful 4-9-1 record since the “good ‘ol days” just four weeks ago. Over this 14 game span, the B’s have managed to muster just 11-of-28 possible points, as they continue to slip down the proverbial slide. Now 51 games into the season, and the Big Bad Bruins are still searching – a little too late – for an identity to this team.

Who in fact are these Boston Bruins? Fans and media alike are asking themselves that same question over and over again. Was last year and their 116 regular season points an over-achievement? Doubtful. How can this same team – with a handful of additions by a just few subtractions – cause so much grief and not get “it” together? Are they not listening to last year’s Jack Adams winning coach?

Who knows. But one thing’s for sure: the difference between last year’s team and this season’s debacle goes beyond the wins and losses.

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The Bruins open up this week, Saturday the 23rd – Friday the 29th of January, with a series of back-to-back games. This will mark the Bruins’ 11th set of consecutive-night games [17 total] of the season – with a 5-3-2 record in game ones, and 5-4-1 in games twos.

Good news for the B’s, and their fans: Boston will not be playing in any games outside the Eastern Time Zone for the remainder of the 2009-10 season. So no more west coast traveling “excuses” from here-on-out.

Jumping ahead: The Bruins have 11 more games lined-up from now until the Olympic break – Feb. 13. Of those 11 games, five are Division rivals – so those would be 10 much needed, and valuable, points.

Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010: Bruins vs. Senators at the TD Garden, 1pm EST start time.

The Bruins will host the Senators for the sixth and final time this season. The Bruins hold a 5-1-0 record against the Sens this season, and are coming off a 5-1 lackluster defeat from their last meeting on the 18th.

Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010: Bruins @ Hurricanes at the RBC Center, 5pm EST start time.
The Bruins hold a 1-0-0 record against the ‘Canes this season after beating them up, 7-2, on Oct. 3, 2009. This will be their second of four contests this season, and 172nd meeting in their lifetime series. Boston holds a 90-63-16-2 record over Carolina, with a 592-509 scoring advantage.

Last season, the Bruins swept the Hurricanes in their regular season series – before losing in the second round of the playoffs in seven games.

The ‘Canes will be playing on Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers, and will be playing in conse3cutive nights for the 10th time this season. Carolina posts an 0-8-1 record in game ones, and 3-5-1 in game twos.

Monday, Jan. 25 – Thursday, Jan. 29, 2010: No games scheduled

Monday, Jan. 25: practice is scheduled for 11:30am EST at Ristuccia Arena – located at 190 Main Street, Wilmington, MA.

Tuesday Jan. 26 – Thursday Jan. 29: practices are scheduled at 10:30am EST at Ristuccia Arena; and 11:30am on Thursday.

Friday, Jan. 30, 2010: Bruins vs. Sabres at the TD Garden, 7:30pm EST start time.

The Bruins host the Northeast Division-leading Buffalo Sabres on Friday night – their third of six meetings this season. Boston took the previous two contests; 4-2 in Boston on Nov. 7 and a 2-1 victory in Buffalo on Nov. 20.

Buffalo [30-12-7,  5th in the NHL, 3rd Eastern Conference] are currently tied with second-place New Jersey Devils with 67 points. The Sabres will be playing three games from now until Friday: Tonight @ San Jose; Monday @ Vancouver; Wednesday vs. New Jersey.