The Boston Bruins and Anaheim Ducks have one thing in common, they both looked terrible in their season openers. The Bruins, however, looked like they turned that awful start around with a 7-2 victory over Carolina.

Anaheim (0-1-1) opened the season against San Jose and quickly saw themselves staring at a 4-0 hole after two periods. They eventually lost to San Jose 4-1. Tuesday they met with the Minnesota Wild, and despite carrying a 3-0 lead into the third period, lost the game 4-3 in overtime.

Boston (1-1-0) didn't fare to well in their opener either after getting slapped around by Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Unlike Anaheim though, the Bruins dominated in their second game against the Carolina Hurricanes, winning 7-2.

Last season the Bruins brought the whooping stick on the Ducks, defeating them 6-0. Michael Ryder and Chuck Kobasew had 2 goals a piece in the game and Tim Thomas had 35 saves for the shutout.

I am looking at something similar this time around. Anaheim has the talent to be a very good team, but it seems their goaltending is something less than desirable. My guess is Jonas Hiller will get the start in net for Anaheim because Jean-Sebastien Giguere started Tuesday in Minnesota.

Bruins Keys To Winning:

1. Solid Defense
- Anaheim has guys that can score (Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, Cory Perry, Teemu Selanne) and guys that can make plays (Saku Koivu). To keep this team off of the scoreboard, the Bruins will need their defense to play a tough, disciplined gamer of puck.

2. Hard and Heavy Forecheck
- The B's have the type of forwards that can bang along the boards and provide a heavy forecheck. Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic are just a couple of the forwards who will need to pester the Anaheim defense and keep the puck in the offensive zone. The less opportunities for guys like Ryan and Getzlaf, the better.

3. Strong Power Play
- Against the Hurricanes the Bruins went 4 for 8 on the power play (PP). That number is an aberration as no team will constantly put up 50% on the PP, but if they can run a smooth PP consisting of a bevy of shots and possible a goal or two it should put the Ducks on tilt.

Projected Bruins line-up:

Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Marco Sturm
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick-Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart-Andrew Ference

Tim Thomas

Predictions:

Anaheim Ducks 1 Boston Bruins 4

Anaheim goals: Bobby Ryan

Boston goals: Milan Lucic, Chuck Kobasew, Marco Sturm (2)