Savard

BOSTON — The Winter Classic seems to be becoming an annual rite in the NHL. Today the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks tangled at Wrigley Field one year after Pittsburgh and Buffalo squared off at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park,  N.Y.

For most NHL players, an outdoor game brings back memories of their youth hockey days — getting out on the ponds and public rinks as often as they could. Bruins center Marc Savard even found a way to make some money off outdoor hockey when he was around 12 or 13. (more…)

Axelsson

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins went through their first morning skate of  2009 at TD Banknorth Garden just a couple hours ago. And the lines they skated were the same as the ones that beat tonight’s opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on the road Tuesday night.

The alignment included the swap of left wings head coach Claude Julien made with P.J. Axelsson joining center Marc Savard and right winger Phil Kessel, and Milan Lucic hopping on the line with Stephane Yelle and Chuck Kobasew.

Savard responded with a three-point night and Axelsson notched a couple assists. (more…)

Malkin

The second half of a home-and-home series is usually a prime place to find some bad blood.  So it should be interesting to see how tonight’s game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the first-place Boston Bruins plays out.

Here’s a look at the coverage in today’s Pittsburgh papers:

Evgeni Malkin was out of his shell as far as on-ice production from the minute he pulled on an NHL sweater. Shelly Anderson in the Post-Gazette tells us that he’s settling in off the ice as well.

Rob Rossi of the Tribune-Review takes a look at the “young guns” of the NHL, a group that includes Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal and Boston’s Phil Kessel. Rossi also tells us that Pittsburgh chartered to Boston Wednesday morning instead of evening because of the incoming snow storm. That should make them a little more rested, I’d think.

Thomas

Picking a Bruin of the Year for 2008 couldn’t have been any more difficult.

The Boston Bruins had a fantastic finish to the ’08 portion of the 2007-08 season and then started historically hot this season. A number of players had career years last season and were on pace to smash their personal-best numbers (if they hadn’t already) by the time midnight struck to signal the start of ’09.

But when it came time to pick the player responsible for the most positive production for the Bruins between January and December ’08, my eyes couldn’t wander beyond the goal crease. Every team tries to build its winning foundation from the net out, and in Tim Thomas the Boston Bruins have that building block that makes everything easier to pile on top. (more…)