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Johnson gets nod vs. Jackets

November 14, 2013, 4:04 PM ET [37 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
For just the third time all year long, and for the first time on Garden ice in 2013-14, the Boston Bruins will be led to the ice by a goaltender not named Tuukka Rask.

Tonight, it’s all about OchoCinco, as Chad Johnson will get the nod for his third start of the season in a Thursday night showdown with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite entering the Hub as a team with just two wins in seven contests away from home, and with losses in six of their last seven, the Jackets are a team that can bring it if you let ‘em according to B’s coach Claude Julien.

“This is a team that I don’t want to spend too much time looking at their record more than I want to spend looking at their game,” said Julien. “They’re physical, they’re aggressive, they don’t make it easy. It was the same thing in Columbus; they were hard on us and we had to really work to score goals. So I don’t anticipate anything different tonight. I think they still believe in what they’re doing and right now I think this is a team that is just looking for a few breaks here and there to turn the corner and we have to be careful that we’re not the team necessarily that gives that to them.”

While Boston’s become a team that’s looked increasingly whole with each victory over this quiet three-game win streak, they simply can’t afford to revert back to their old habits developed and exposed in Johnson’s last outing, an ugly Nov. 2 loss on Long Island.



“I liked the way we played the last few games; Toronto and obviously Tampa and seeing them turning the corner but that has to continue tonight,” Julien noted, adding, “I think that’s the challenge that teams have all the time, is not to rely on the fact that you’re playing better lately but fight and keep it going. So I think that’s what everybody’s hoping to keep our team going in the right direction.”

Set for his third game of the season, and with a 1-1-0 and .900 save percentage in his previous two outings this season, there’s obvious concern when it comes to Johnson’s playing time (or lack thereof) and how it factors into a start against a Jackets club that can simply wake up at any point.

Especially when you look at Johnson’s counterpart at the other end of the rink: Defending Vezina winner and emerging goaltending talent, Sergei Bobrovsky.

But that’s not worrying the B’s given Johnson’s work ethic in his first year with the club.

“You see him every day, he comes out and is going to stay out there after practice and take some extra shots and try and stay sharp and that’s what Chad has done for us. I think if anything he’s had a great attitude,” said Julien. “He hasn’t had the chance to play much yet nothing’s diminished from his work ethic, from his attitude, from his demeanor. He still comes in and is a real good team player every day. So that’s what you want to see from guys like that. You always hope that when they do get their chance, they make the best of it and get what they deserve; and guys like that deserve success.”

This will be Johnson’s first career appearance against the Blue Jackets.

Bobrovsky stopped 33 of 35 shots in a losing effort against the B’s back on Oct. 12, and has never beaten the Bruins in three career games against ‘em despite his .940 save percentage.

McQuaid remains out of action

The Bruins will continue be without the services of rugged defensemen Adam McQuaid, who suffered an extremely vague lower-body injury in last Saturday’s win over Toronto.

Missing the club’s last game, Monday’s 3-0 win over the first place Tampa Bay Lightning, the 6-foot-5 McQuaid has begun to work out on his own, but there’s still no timetable for his return.

“I know he was in the gym this morning working out. So he’s progressing, it’s just day-to-day and I don’t even know whether we’re going to take him on the trip,” Julien said this morning. “So I don’t know what the situation is; probably know better either this afternoon or tonight – they might tell us he’s coming with us. I think a lot of it is dependent on how he was doing this morning.”

Oddly enough, the 27-year-old McQuaid was drafted by Columbus with the 55th overall pick in 2005, and was later traded to Boston for a draft pick that was then flipped and traded to Dallas, where it ultimately turned out to land right where Dallas captain Jamie Benn was drafted.

Matt Bartkowski will continue to suit up in place of him.
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