Tuukka Starts Against Dallas

A few hours ago, I was writing an article praising Tim Thomas and his potentially historic season. The praise still stands, but we'll have to put it on hold for a few days as his backup, 23-year-old Tuukka Rask, gets the start tonight against the Dallas Stars. It will be Rask's first start in two weeks, and he will be looking for his first win since January 10th at Pittsburgh. The youngster has a formidable .923 saves percentage and a 2.67 goals against average this season, but his 4-10-1 record is certainly in need of improvement.

For the Bruins, tonight will be a classic East versus West battle. Boston and Dallas are each the #3 seeds in their respective conferences. They have each played 51 games, and they each have 65 points. Dallas has 29 points on the road this season, and Boston has 29 points at home. Only one point separates the two teams' most recent 10-game stretches. It's bound to be an exciting matchup from the TD Garden between two teams that are stating their cases as perennial Cup contenders this season.

When it comes to the cross-conference battles, Dallas has fared far better than Boston has this season. The Stars hold an astounding 11-2-1 record versus Eastern Conference opponents this season, whereas the B's are just 2-4-2 in their games against Western Conference teams. Four of those eight games were played at the TD Garden, where the Bruins are 0-2-2 against teams from the West this year. Something will need to change if the B's are going to reverse the cross-conference trend tonight.

Special teams might be the key to victory for Boston. The Stars are enduring mighty struggles on the penalty kill lately, surrendering 7 goals in their past 14 penalty-killing attempts. Despite the absence of Marc Savard, the Bruins have had decent success on their power play (17.5%) and will look to work to their strengths when given the opportunity tonight. Look for Zdeno Chara to continue to be a presence from the right point on the power play, and look for Mark Recchi to do what he does best around the cage. If the Bruins -- one of the best 5-on-5 teams in the game -- are able to win the special teams battle tonight, I think they'll come out on top and earn Rask a long-awaited victory. Two U's, two K's, two points? Let's hope so.

Update - Andrew Raycroft starts for Dallas tonight, making it Rask vs Raycroft. Something tells me the Toronto Maple Leafs don't want to watch this game.