Sens Week Ahead: Dec 27th to Jan 2nd

An interesting thing has happened over the course of the Bruins last ten games. Going in to that stretch, they were sitting outside of the playoffs but with games in hand.

They have a better record in that stretch than they were before, but only slightly with a pace that would have put them only two points higher in the standings. Still, the net result of the last ten games has given them a huge improvement in the standings, to one point short of the division lead.

The other thing that has vastly improved since the start of the season for the Bruins has been Tuukka Rask. He ended the month of November with a sub-900 save percentage. In the month of December, he's posted an absurd .957 so far and his lowest individual game save percentage was .923. This is bad news for Ottawa - it's a back to back for Boston, and Jonas Gustavsson played last night.

One place where the Bruins continue to struggle is in their own barn. While their record isn't skewed quite as heavily as San Jose, they are one of the few teams that has a notably worse record at home than they do on the road. All this is despite their league leading power play, which has been far more successful at home than it has been on the road.

They've dropped the last two at home as well - a shutout to St. Louis, and a late collapse against a still-not-great Buffalo. Given the Sens playing on a back to back,

Tell me if you've heard this one before - the New Jersey Devils play stifling, boring hockey. Lou may be gone, but his legacy continues.

They continue to be the team that defines "low event hockey". They have, by far, the lowest number of shot attempts per game in the league at both 5 on 5 and including special teams, as well as the lowest shot attempts against per game at 5 on 5.

Cory Schneider is holding up his end. While he's had a few rough games lately he's got the 11th best save percentage, and is just ever so slightly off of his career average. Keith Kinkaid on the other hand isn't doing so hot, barely over 900. It's hard to say who Ottawa will face - it's the second half of a back to back for Jersey as well which often leads to the backup, but with their other opponent being Carolina they could decide to save Schneider for the Sens.

On the scoring end of things there are some standouts as well. Mike Cammalleri leads the team in points and his having his best season in years. He is sitting at just under a point per game, and 11th overall in the league. Kyle Palmieri has already set a career high in goals, and is 12th in the league. Adam Henrique hasn't broken his career high yet, but he's on pace to do it and is also in the top 30 for goals.