Senators Open Second Half At Boston Bruins

The second half of the NHL season gets underway with a nearly full slate of 13 games Tuesday, following a five-day break that featured a 12-9 win for Team Chara over Team Alfredsson in the 59th annual All-Star Game at Ottawa’s Scotiabank Place on Sunday.

Coincidentally, the two captains Zdeno Chara of the Bruins and Daniel Alfredsson of the Senators will face each other again two days later at Boston’s TD Garden.  This Northeast Division matchup highlights the schedule and is one of five games that will start at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Alfredsson enjoyed playing the host to All-Star festivities over the weekend and capped it with two goals in the second period of his team’s loss to Team Chara.  Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas prevented Alfredsson from scoring a hat trick with his play in the third period, stopping 18 of the 21 shots he faced to win his record fourth straight All-Star Game.

Team Alfredsson won the NHL All-Star Skills Competition 21-12 while Chara broke his own record in the hardest shot competition when the puck he struck reached 108.8 miles per hour.

Chara’s Boston team has also had the upper hand against Alfredsson’s Ottawa squad over the past two seasons, dominating the series with a 7-1 mark in eight meetings, including 2-0 this year.  The Bruins (31-14-2) lead the Northeast and rank second in the Eastern Conference with 64 points, and the Senators are four points behind (27-19-6) and tied for fifth with the Pittsburgh Penguins (28-17-4), who have the same amount of points in three less games.

Pittsburgh will host the Toronto Maple Leafs (25-19-5) at the same time and found out that captain Sidney Crosby had suffered a neck injury in addition to his concussion during some tests in Los Angeles over the weekend.   Crosby’s neck injury is fully healed now, but there is still no timetable for his return to the ice.  He had tallied 12 points in eight games prior to concussion-like symptoms returning after a 3-1 loss to Boston on December 5.

Other key games on Tuesday include the New York Rangers (31-12-4) visiting the New Jersey Devils (26-19-3) at 7:00 p.m., the Calgary Flames hosting the Detroit Red Wings at 9:00 p.m. and a 2011 first-round playoff rematch between the Chicago Blackhawks (29-15-6) and Vancouver Canucks (30-15-4) at 10:00 p.m.  The Atlantic Division-leading Rangers lead the East with 66 points while the Devils are fighting to get into the postseason after missing out last year.

The Central Division-leading Red Wings have played three more games than New York and lead the league with 67 points, three ahead of both the Blackhawks and Canucks.  Detroit tied a season high with a seven-game winning streak just prior to the All-Star break but saw it come to an end with a 7-2 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens (19-21-9) last Wednesday, falling to 13-14 away from home. Northwest Division leader Vancouver edged Chicago 4-3 in seven games when they met in the playoffs last year, and they have split two meetings so far this season with the road team winning each time.