Bruins Hit Busy Stretch, Not Looking Ahead To Vancouver

Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins during the NHL game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena on December 28, 2011 in Glendale, Arizona. The Bruins defeated the Coyotes 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

BOSTON (CBS) – The Boston Bruins finally hit the ice again Wednesday night, as they head to New Jersey to take on the Devils.

After having three days off, and playing just two games in the last 11 days, the Bruins hit a busy part of their schedule. Boston will play three times in the next four days, and 12 times over the next 18 days.

But for a team that has won nine of their last 12, a steady dose of games is not such a bad thing.

“I think it’s a good thing for us to start playing a little bit more,” head coach Claude Julien said after practice on Tuesday. “We’ve had a pretty easy schedule in the first half and I think we’ve acknowledged that. We realize it and understand the challenges that lie ahead of us in the second half. We just have to get ready, stay fresh and stay focused. The one thing we learned last game is if we don’t bring our A-game, we’re going to see the A-game of the other team.”

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After winning seven straight, Boston fell to the Stars in Dallas on New Year’s Eve. They’ve had three days to think about the loss, and are looking to bounce back Wednesday night in New Jersey.

“They battle very hard and they play a tough game,” forward Brad Marchand said of the Devils. “It’s going to be a good game.”

“Last time they played a real heavy game. They’re strong on the stick, they have strong bodies and we have to play them strong,” said defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. “We have to create more chances offensively. It seems like when we play a strong team, we have the puck but we’ve kept it to the outside. Now we have to establish shots and pressure towards the net.”

Read: Bruins-Devils Preview

The Bruins beat the Devils in Boston 4-3 in mid-November thanks to three third-period goals.

The B’s will lace them up again Thursday night as they host the Calgary Flames before welcoming the Vancouver Canucks back to Boston on Saturday for a Stanley Cup rematch.

Although fans are looking towards the weekend rematch with the Canucks, the players are just taking the current stretch one game at a time.

“It’s going to be interesting. I know all the fans and everyone are going to be excited about it. It will be nice to get it over with,” Marchand said of the meeting with the Canucks. “I don’t think I’ve thought about it once. I don’t care that we’re playing them. It’s just another game in our mind. I haven’t heard anyone talking about it really.”

“Right now we’re focused on bouncing back,” said Julien. “We certainly didn’t like the last game we played in Dallas and we know we need a better effort. In order to start thinking about that game (against Vacouver), we need to right the ship here first and we have two games before that.”

“We’ve been so successful this year as of late because we do a good job not looking past the next game and make sure we’re focused on that, that’s how it’s been,” said Marchand. “We’re doing that right now and no one is looking at that game right now. We’re more worried about what’s happening (Wednesday) night (against New Jersey) and Thursday against Calgary. When the time comes we’ll worry about that game.”

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Looking For A Volt? More Now Available As GM Allows Dealers To Sell Demos

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2011 Chevrolet Volt on test in Little Rock, Arkansas, July 2011

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It’s no secret that Chevrolet Volt sales have been constrained due to availability. That, and the fact that dealers were eager to hold onto their single demonstrator Volt, if they had one, in order to bring traffic to the store.

Now that General Motors has decided to allow dealers to sell their Volt demos, consumers who’ve indicated they’d buy a Volt if one were available, can have their opportunity.

Why the sudden change in policy? There’s the magic number of 10,000 Volt sales at stake here. That’s the total GM targeted to sell for the 2011 calendar year. Through the end of October, just 5,003 Volts had been sold, 1,103 of them in October alone, the Volt’s best month to-date. That still leaves a deficit of 4,997 sales to make up by year’s end.

Not altogether impossible, but it will still take some doing. By freeing up roughly 1,800 Volt demos at some 2,300 Chevrolet dealerships nationwide, that puts about 4,100 Volts in inventory, and ready to sell. There are currently around 2,600 Chevrolet dealers around the country participating in the Volt program, but not all of them have a Volt demo in inventory.

GM spokesman Rob Petersen told GM-Volt.com that the decision to sell Volt demos is strictly voluntary on the part of dealers. They can sell the demo if they want to, but they don’t have to.

As for pricing, would consumers benefit from a slight price reduction, due to the fact that they’d be buying a Volt with a few demonstrator miles on it? Also, there are some Volt graphics on the demos which would have to be removed.

To answer the pricing question, Petersen reiterated what is company mantra, “We’re steadfast in communicating to our dealers that they should be selling the Volt at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.” But Peterson also added that “they’re independent franchises and that gives them the flexibility to do what they need to do.”

Now that 2012 Chevy Volts are being built, the rush is on to see if GM makes the 10,000 sales by the end of December.

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Amazon Looking to Buy Palm [REPORT]

Amazon wants to buy Palm and its smartphone/tablet platform WebOS, VentureBeat reports citing a well-placed source.

There are other interested parties, but Amazon is nearest to completing the deal, the same source claims.

After HP gave up on the tablet business, rumors started swirling about possible buyers for Palm and WebOS – a platform which showed a lot of promise even in its early days, but was never given a chance to shine as Palm changed hands.

Recent reports that Samsung was interested in acquiring Palm were quickly shot down by the company CEO Choi Gee Sung. HTC, on the other hand, carefully let the world know that it wouldn’t mind having a spare mobile OS on its hands, although CEO Cher Wang was careful not to go into specifics.

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