Gameday: Boston Bruins Visit Atlanta Thrashers

	Atlanta Thrashers (11-9-3)
versus
Boston Bruins (12-7-2)

ATL - Ondrej Pavelec (5-4-2, .946, 1.68) BOS - Tim Thomas (11-2-1, .951, 1.56)

5:00PM
Philips Arena
Stanley Cup of Chowder
SBNation Game Page

Today the Thrashers prepare to host Tim Thomas and the Stingiest D in the NHL (42 GA), sometimes also known as the Boston Bruins. Here's what you need to know heading into this evenings' matchup:

Goalie Battle: Timmy Tommy is currently leading all goalies with a .951 SVPCT and 4 shutouts. The Thrashers have will have to keep up their current trend of complete 60 minute efforts if they hope to put a couple of pucks past Thomas. Falling in third on both the Save Pct and Goals Against leaderboards is Ondrej Pavelec. Pavs has been a wall over his last four wins, sporting a .983 save percentage over that span. Is this kind of pace sustainable? Well, probably not, but I pose an opposing question: What exactly is Pavelec capable of? He's now played parts of four seasons in Atlanta, with the current season being the only winning one of the bunch. But there are a couple of things different this year: one, a much improved defense; and two, Clint Malarchuk. So there's your pre-game discussion question: What is Ondrej Pavelec's actual potential? (Yes, I realize that actual potential is a contradiction in terms; no, I will not be apologizing for it. I'm only on coffee #2 this morning.)

Special Teams: The Carolina Hurricanes scored 3 on Boston last Friday - all power play markers. Boston is third in the NHL on the penalty kill. The Thrashers are third in the NHL on the power play. It's likely to come down to who is more disciplined: the Thrashers are averaging 10.4 PIM (3rd in NHL) per game, while Boston tracks at 13.6 (17th).

Injury Report: For Atlanta, Fredrik Modin is out with what we now know as a rib injury. For Boston, Jordon Caron and David Krecji have the flu. Jamie Arniel is up from AHL Providence on an emergency call-up.

Interesting Stats My Brain Is Too Stuffing-Clogged To Work Into An Actual Post: Zach Bogosian has a Quality of Competition Rating of .107 - good for 7th on the Thrashers. His Corsi Rating Relative to QualComp is 1.287, first on the Thrashers. Corsi is a ratio of even strength shots for and against while a player is on the ice, including missed & blocked shots. Being the Advanced Stats dilettante I am, I can say with relative surety that Bogosian is letting more good things than bad happen on the ice. Being the Excel Monster that I am, I can also tell you that Bogosian is shooting less: 1.76 shots per game this season versus 1.91 SPG in each of his previous two seasons. Could it be that Zach's role has changed slightly, and we just want to see him shoot more? Discuss.

Let's Go Thrashers.