Penguins vs. Bruins 7 p.m. @ TD Garden

\

Matt Cooke needs to get his ass beat tonight. Almost one year removed from the dirty hit to the head that could conceivably end Marc Savard's career, Matt Cooke and the shorthanded Pittsburgh Penguins roll into town looking to even the season series with Boston. Pittsburgh won the last meeting between these two teams in a matinee affair at TD Garden 3-2. The Bruins are currently riding a 7 game winning streak and hold sole possession of 2nd place in the conference after their gritty victory vs. Tampa Bay on Thursday. Pittsburgh lost in Overtime to the Devils in New Jersey last night and is only 2-4-4 (8 points) in their last 10. Despite the cold streak, Pittsburgh is still holding on to 4th in the conference with 82 points.

It has been a mess for the Penguins as of late. The teams top two forwards are out. Sidney Crosby has been out since early January with a concussion. As of yesterday, he is still feeling the effects of said concussion and there is still no timetable for his return. Evgeni Malkin is out for the remainder of the season after getting major knee surgery. In both All-Stars absences, the Penguins have made trades for Alexi Kovalev, Matt Niskanen, and James Neal to fill the void.

For the Bruins, Steven Kampfer will miss up to a week with a concussion suffered when he got BUNDLED on Thursday. It was a clean hit which forced little Steven to miss the third period. A Providence Bruins defenseman will be called up on an emergency basis......Patrice Bergeron will miss tonight's game to see to a personal issue and has been permitted to leave the team. Rich Peverley was seen practicing in Bergy's place on the second line. Tyler Seguin and Dan Paille will both see ice time tonight due to the team points leader's absence.

Prediction: The Bruins are riding high, but they have to lose sometime. Flower's in the cage tonight for the Pen's after getting last night off. Coach Dan Bylsma regroups his team after last nights loss and ends the Bruins win streak. Penguins 4 - Bruins 3 (S/O) ......I hope I am wrong.