NHL Game of the Night - Pittsburgh Penguins at Boston Bruin

There are two big storylines heading into tonight’s Bruins/Penguins game. One being the playoff race that both teams are embroiled in, with Boston Bruin holding onto the eighth playoff spot and the Penguins trying to keep pace with the Devils in the Atlantic Division, and then there’s the other side of this game.

That, of course, is the presumed redemption that is going to be sought by Boston for Matt Cooke’s intentional head shot on Marc Savard that has put their star forward out for the year.

The press out of the Bruins camp is all about how important this game is and redemption is just not an immediate concern, but of course they’re going to say that.

You’re not going to hear anyone come out and state to the media that they’re going after Cooke’s head. But you’d be pretty naive if you thought this game wasn’t circled on the calendar for the Bruins.

There is a code in hockey, and if you do something like what Cooke did, and you have a history of being a dirty player, you better get ready for some sort of redemption.

The big reason this could get ugly is not that Cooke didn’t have to pay the price on the ice after the hit, as that can always be settled at a later date, but that the league didn’t step up and do their job.

They were the ones that let Cooke off without any discipline, in essence leaving justice in the player’s hands.

The reason this hit went undisciplined is because the league dropped the ball on a the similar check earlier in the year when Philadelphia captain Mike Richards laid out David Booth of Florida with a very similar check. Since the NHL didn’t discipline that hit, their hands were tied with Cooke.

Well, since Cooke’s hit, the league have adopted some new guidelines for penalizing blindside hits. But the fact of the matter is, Cooke will be playing tonight and will have to pay some sort of price for what he’s done.

But there is still a game to play, and it’s a big one for Boston. The Bruins know that the two points is the main goal tonight, and they can’t put themselves in a hole trying to get revenge on Cooke.

Boston is just three points ahead of the ninth-seeded New York Rangers, so any points are big points at this point of the season. The Rangers play host to the St. Louis Blues tonight, a much easier opponent on paper.

The Bruins are hoping that they’re getting the Penguins while they’re still slumping. They have lost three out of four and are coming off Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Devils, their sixth in a row to the Devils this year.

Boston should be feeling good after pounding the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 on Tuesday and they’ll need all the momentum they can build as they play the Penguins tonight and then face the Rangers on Sunday in a huge two game home stand.

They are 14-13-6 in their own building, and will have to improve on that record if they want to, first make it into the playoffs, and do anything if they make it.

Pittsburgh Penguins has taken two of three meetings over Boston this year with tonight's matchup concluding their four game season series.

But I think Boston is catching the Penguins at just the right time. Pittsburgh is struggling, the Bruins will have a little extra jump and the building is going to no doubt be electric.