Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings (39-28-15, 93 points) and Boston Bruins (54-19-9, 117 points) hit the ice at the TD Garden in Boston for Game 1 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 series. The game can be live streamed for free here. Detroit fans can hear all of the action on 97.1 The Ticket while Boston fans can do the same on WBZ 1030.
These two teams play in their first playoff series since 1957 as Detroit enters its 23rd consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs while Boston looks to make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row this June. The Red Wings took three of four games from the Bruins this season.
The Bruins will look to win this series quickly as the team has played in four Game 7s in the first round in the last six years.
"I don't know, it just seems to be the biggest battle for us and the hardest one to get through," forward Milan Lucic (24-39--55 regular-season) said via NHL.com. "I don't think it's going to be any different heading into this series. So we've got to be prepared to bring our best because you talk about the last three years, you know the other team hasn't taken us lightly at all and they've given us their best."
The Red Wings moved over to the Eastern Conference for the first time this season and their reward for keeping their playoff streak alive is playing one of the toughest and most physical teams in the NHL. Still, Detroit has plenty of experience playing physical teams from its days in the Western Conference.
"Sure, the Bruins and some of the other teams from the East are physical, but we played Anaheim last year and they're big and physical," forward Gustav Nyquist said per NHL.com. "I think the biggest thing is the travel. You don't have to travel three different time zones, and that affects you more than you know."
Nyquist finished tied with the injured Henrik Zetterberg (16-32--48, back injury) for second on the Red Wings in points with 48 off of 28 goals and 20 assists while Daniel Alfredsson (18 goals, 31 assists) and Niklas Kronwall (eight tallies, 41 helpers) each had 49 points to lead the team.
David Krejci paced the Bruins in the regular-season with 69 points off of 19 goals and 50 assists while Patrice Bergeron had 30 markers and 32 helpers for 62 points and Jarome Iginla found the back of the net 30 times and added 31 assists for 61 points.
Tuukka Rask will man the crease for Boston after going 36-15-6 with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage while Jimmy Howard will suit up between the pipes after finishing the season with a 21-19-11 record along with a 2.66 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
The Red Wings and Bruins kickoff their best-of-seven Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series when the lights come up at the TD Garden tonight in Boston.
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