It's no routine weekend trip for Penguins
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When the Penguins and Boston last met, Sidney Crosby was in the lineup for the Penguins, the Bruins were on a 13-0-1 roll, and the teams were the class of the Eastern Conference.
That was Dec. 5 at Consol Energy Center. The Bruins won, 3-1, to climb to within a point of the first-place Penguins in the East.
Today, when the teams meet for a matinee at TD Garden in Boston, the Penguins will have their necks craned. The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins are second in the East, with 66 points, while the Penguins sit fifth with 62.
The Penguins are 3-6 against the four teams ahead of them in the East, with two of those wins coming against Florida.
Friday, Penguins winger Matt Cooke called the game this afternoon "one of the biggest challenges of the year."
The Penguins have been streaky since the earlier meeting. That game started a stretch of four losses in five games. Then came a four-game winning streak, a six-game losing streak and an eight-game winning streak before a 1-0 loss Wednesday in the road half of back-to-back games against Toronto.
• Game: Penguins vs. Boston Bruins, 1:08 p.m.
• Where: TD Garden, Boston.
• TV: Root Sports.
If they are going to take a run at Boston or Philadelphia, which leads the Atlantic Division, they can't sink into another losing skid.
After the game today, they play two more conference games -- Sunday afternoon at New Jersey and Tuesday night at Montreal -- before returning home.
"The way our conference is now, they're potential first-round matchups," Penguins center Dustin Jeffrey said. "It seems everybody is moving up and down, jockeying for position daily.
"So, these are all games we have to play close attention to."
The Penguins have played without Crosby since the earlier Bruins game because of symptoms associated with concussions that might stem from a newly discovered neck injury.
They also are missing center Jordan Staal, forward Arron Asham and defenseman Simon Despres.
Boston's only injury is to Nathan Horton, who has a concussion.
Boston doesn't have any players in the NHL's top 25 in scoring, but it has a considerable amount of offensive balance to go with a strong defense -- led by towering Zdeno Chara -- and stingy goaltending with a team goals-against average of 2.16.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:00 am
