The Bruins will return to TD Garden Thursday night after a four-game swing through Canada. The Bruins picked up four of a possible eight points north of the border, despite just one victory. The Bruins are returning home bruised and battered as they will once again be without David Backes, Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller, Torey Krug and now Urho Vaakanainen.
Krug once again skated with the team this morning, but is not quite ready to go yet. Head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Krug needs some contact in practice before jumping back in. He wouldn’t rule him out for Saturday’s contest with the Canadiens, but, said it’s unlikely he plays before next week.
Miller skated this morning on this own with his hand in a cast. He will be re-evaluated in about three weeks.
Vaakanainen, Backes and McAvoy are all feeling better, but Cassidy could not provide a timetable on the return of either of the three.
After a solid performance by Tuukka Rask in Ottawa on Tuesday, the Bruins will turn back to Jaroslav Halak, with Rask back between the pipes Saturday night.
With Vaakanainen now out of the lineup with a concussion, the Bruins recalled Jeremy Lauzon on an emergency basis. Lauzon has played in six games with the Providence Bruins, scoring once and adding three assists. Lauzon was the Bruins second round draft pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
I am a little surprised that it’s Lauzon getting the call as it seemed like it would have been either Jakub Zboril or Cody Goloubef getting the call for tonight’s game. After 58 games in Providence over the span of two seasons, Lauzon will make his NHL debut Thursday night.
The Flyers are coming off of a 4-1 loss at home to the Colorado Avalanche Monday night. As expected, the Flyers are being led offensively by Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds who have 12, 11 and 7 points respectively.
Bruins projected lines:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak Danton Heinen-David Krejci-Jake DeBrusk Anders Bjork-Joakim Nordstrom-Chris Wagner Ryan Donato-Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo Matt Grzelcyk-John Moore Jeremy Lauzon-Steven Kampfer
Jaroslav Halak
Flyers projected lines:
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny Scott Laughton-Nolan Patrick-Jakub Voracek Oskar Lindblom-Jordan Weal-Wayne Simmonds Dale Wise-Jori Lehtera-Corban Knight
Ivan Provorov-Robert Hagg Shayne Gostisbehere-Andrew MacDonald Travis Sanheim-Radko Gudas
Brian Elliott
What I’m watching for We’ve seen the difference in results. When the first line scores, the Bruins win. When the first line doesn’t score, the Bruins don’t win. Pretty simple, right?
The Flyers boast a very good top line, one that can easily shut down Bergeron and company. If they succeed in doing so, the Bruins will need their other three lines to step up. The Bruins haven’t gotten much production outside the Bergeron trio.
On Tuesday, David Krejci got on the board with his second goal of the season, a power play tally. Hopefully for the Bruins, that goal sparks Krejci and he can bring that spark to a struggling second line.