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Breaking up is hard to do: Lucic and Horton split up

Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic

Boston Bruins’ Nathan Horton, right, celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with teammate left wing Milan Lucic (17) in the third period of Game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Eastern Conference final series, Friday, May 27, 2011, in Boston. The Bruins won 1-0. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

AP

It was a relationship you never thought would end. Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton are being split up by Claude Julien in an effort to spark the Bruins and end the days of frustration in Boston.

The Bruins aren’t scoring goals and they need to do something fast to try and spark things. Tonight against Toronto, they’ll roll out there with a brand new set of lines, a group that saw some work together during the Bruins’ 4-1 loss to Carolina the other night. After seeing the way Lucic and Horton (as well as David Krejci) played together in the playoffs last season, it seemed like the kind of trio that would work together forever. A new season has brought new issues, however, and with the Bruins averaging less than two goals per game, changes were necessary.

CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty breaks down the numbers that Horton and Lucic have put up together this season and they’re less than stellar.

The Bruins are 2-4 in their six games, last in the NHL in goal-scoring, and three points along with a minus-1 out of Horton and Lucic in 12 games. The struggles of Lucic and Horton might not be the biggest problem facing the Black and Gold in their first half-dozen games, but they’re clearly not part of the solution either.

That ain’t good and for Boston they’ll hope that Phil Kessel and the Leafs don’t make them look bad tonight. Potentially working in Boston’s favor is they’ll get to face Jonas Gustavsson in goal for Toronto. The Monster has yet to play this season so it’s an opportune time for the Bruins to snap out of their funk. The Bruins have to hope that Lucic and Horton aren’t too sad after their split. Breaking up is hard to do after all.