Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork. Authentic Domantas Sabonis Jersey .com) - The Boston Bruins started last season strong only to disappoint at the end with a second-round playoff exit at the hands of the hated Montreal Canadiens. Claude Juliens club is hoping to do the opposite in 2014-15, a season that has been characterized by inconsistency, injuries and problems caused by a salary cap crunch. Until recently, it was easy to forget the Bruins entered this season as the reigning Presidents Trophy winners and a favorite to win the Eastern Conference. Lately, however, it seems Boston is trying to get our attention and remind us what makes the Bruins an intriguing choice to win it all when the chase for the Cup culminates later in 2015. Tuesday evening in Boston, the boys from Beantown will get a chance to see if the progress they have made of late is the sign of even better things to come, or if there is still more work to be done. The Bruins will host the Atlantic Division leaders and theyll carry some momentum into the showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Boston enters the divisional battle on a three-game winning streak and also has managed to record a point in nine of its last 10 outings, sporting a 6-1-3 mark over the stretch. Although the Bruins have improved enough to get themselves into a playoff spot at the moment, the club hasnt given up on winning the division title. Winning Tuesdays clash at TD Garden would be a good step toward achieving the goal, but with eight points still separating the Bruins and Lightning, its going to take more than one victory to win the Atlantic. However, the meeting could serve as a message game for Boston, particularly if it goes the way recent encounters between the Bs and Bolts have gone. After all, Tuesdays tilt only marks the first of four scheduled meetings between the clubs during the 2014-15 season, giving Boston ample opportunities to make up ground on the division leaders between now and the end of the regular season. The fact that the final three meetings in 2014-15 will take place from March 12-April 11 means Tuesdays encounter is a tone setter for the entire season series. For the Bruins, it offers a chance to reintroduce themselves to the Lightning, a team that hasnt been competitive in the recent history of this series. The Bruins have taken eight straight from Tampa both overall and at home and the Lightning have been outscored 30-8 while losing their last eight trips to The Hub. Thats an awful lot of bad history for the Lightning to get over, and Boston hopes it can plant a seed of doubt by extending Tampas miserable record in this series. The Bolts also lost a 7-3 decision Monday in Philadelphia, getting routed by a Flyers team which normally has trouble beating teams ahead of them in the standings. That was clearly not the case this time. Philly ran the Lighting out of the Wells Fargo Center despite there being a 19-point gap between the clubs in the standings before the puck dropped. Prior to the lopsided setback against the Flyers, Tampa Bay was being hailed in recent weeks as the Easts top team. With the Lightning knocked down one peg in Philadelphia, the Bruins hope to further tarnish Tampas reputation by continuing their dominance in this series. It probably isnt going to help the Lightning that neither star defenseman Victor Hedman nor leading scorer Tyler Johnson are expected to play tonight after getting injured in Mondays game. Hedmans absence could be particularly noticeable, as the big and talented physical defenseman is one of the few guys in the world worthy of garnering comparisons to Boston star blueliner Zdeno Chara. One complaint consistently hurled at the NHL is the regular season is too long and doesnt really matter. The critique works when you cherry pick certain matchups throughout the season, but its pretty clear a game like Tuesdays clash at the Garden is not one that can be dismissed as merely one part of an 82-game slog. There simply is too much for both the Bruins and Lightning to prove for this one to be a dud. On the practical side, Boston simply needs the points to get where it wants to go. You can bet the Bs also are tired of hearing how Tampa is the class of the East when only months ago it was Boston which was most commonly being singled out for that distinction. The Lightning, meanwhile, are the classic case of a young, talented team trying to get over the hump against a rival which was owned the recent battles between the clubs. In boxing, they say styles make fights. This one pits the speed and offensive talent of Tampa Bay against the physical play and defensive prowess of Juliens Bruins. Its obvious Boston has dictated the pace in recent encounters, but in light of the ups and downs the club has faced in 2014-15, this is a chance for the Bs to prove themselves all over. If they are able to impose their will on Tampa once again, then the spotlight will shift ever so slightly to the Boston side until the clubs meet again. We know the importance of this game ... for both teams, Julien said. A big challenge for us, and probably a big challenge for them. Authentic Alize Johnson Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round pick Nik Stauskas to his rookie contract. Wholesale Pacers Jerseys . The Raptors had an early deadline Sunday, a dreaded afternoon game, and they left the bulk of their work until the last minute, as theyve done so many times before. http://www.cheappacersjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-thaddeus-young-jersey . -- Even as Chris Paul remained evasive about his future, he did what team leaders are expected to do. DETROIT -- After scoring 39 goals in their first eight games, the San Jose Sharks proved they can play pretty well defensively, too. Logan Couture scored in the shootout and San Jose beat the Detroit Red Wings 1-0 on Monday night. The Sharks (8-0-1) are the NHLs last team without a regulation loss. "We scored a lot of goals in our first eight games. Were not going to keep scoring like that," Couture said. Each goalie got a shutout for not allowing a goal in 65 minutes. Antti Niemi -- who got his 24th career shutout -- made 24 saves for San Jose and Jimmy Howard, who earned his 17th shutout, stopped 27 shots. "Not much space out there. It was very playoff like," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "Both teams a prevent-type game. ... It was a chess match, theres no doubt about it. Even on the power play and penalty kills, the teams didnt get a lot of looks." Howard praised the way his team played without the puck. "I thought we did a good job on their top guys. We didnt give them a lot of room and space. Another thing that was a positive was we didnt give up a lot of odd-man rushes," Howard said. "Thats been an Achilles heel of late for us. We did a great job of keeping the third man high in the offensive zone, making them come 200 feet. We didnt turn pucks over. Its a good sign." It was Niemis third shutout against Detroit. He also stopped Todd Bertuzzi on Detroits final shootout attempt with a spectacular pad save. It was the first game of a four-game Eastern road swing for San Jose. Detroits Brendan Smith hit the outside of the goal post with 4:57 remaining in regulation. Niemi made an outstanding save on Daniel Alfreddssons shot from the bottom of the right circle 7:31 into the second period. Authentic Victor Oladipo Jersey. San Jose outshot Detroit 7-4 in a scoreless opening period, in which the Red Wings killed off two penalties. "There was two pretty good teams there tonight. I thought our young D played pretty good. There wasnt much in the way of scoring chances either way," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Both teams played real tight. I thought it was a good game. Just no room for either team. I think both teams checked really well. Not a lot of freedom for guys." NOTES: After the game, the Sharks acquired forward Mike Brown from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fourth-round section in the 2014 draft. ... Detroit D Niklas Kronwall missed his second game with a concussion suffered on Thursday night in Colorado. It was on a hit from behind by Cody McLeod, who was suspended for five games on Monday by the NHL. Kronwalls defence partner, Jonathan Ericsson, also didnt play because his wife went into labour on Sunday night. D Xavier Ouellet was recalled from the Wings AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. ... San Jose recalled forwards Freddie Hamilton and John McCarthy from its AHL affiliate in Worcester. The team also assigned F Matt Pelech to the same team. ... Red Wings G Jonas Gustavsson is the NHLs First Star for last week. Gustavsson posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.67 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in three Detroit wins. ... Sharks LW Patrick Marleau was the leagues Third Star with three goals and six points. ... Tampa Bay Lightning GM, Canadian Olympic GM and former Red Wings Hall of Fame player Steve Yzerman was at the game. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '