Walking on Van Ness Street this morning I noticed workers moving in and out of Fenway Park. It turns out they're building the hockey rink for this year's NHL Winter Classic (you can watch them yourself by clicking here), in which the Bruins will face the Flyers somewhere between the infield and the outfield.

Tonight, playoff action begins for your Boston Bruins, and really, it couldn't come at a better time. We just found out that Kevin Garnett is probably going to be out for the duration of the Celtics' playoffs - and more on him tomorrow - and, of course, whenever things are going less than great for the Red Sox, people around here start getting cranky, justifiably or not - more on them coming soon, too. The Bruins have a chance to really seize this town's attention - for a time, at least.

Of course, it is hard to get people's attention in this town sometimes, and, you may have heard, the NHL hasn't had an easy go of it lately in general. We doubt we're alone when we say we haven't been following hockey too closely over the years. Fortunately, we know someone who has been paying attention: Globe reporter and friend of The Sandbox Chris Forsberg, who was kind enough to answer some of our novice questions. Our brief Q+A follows after the jump: