BOSTON — Bruins coach Claude Julien recognized that he needed to do something with his club after struggling again on Wednesday.
The Bruins trailed Florida 1-0 after back-to-back games against Los Angeles and Tampa Bay in which they had fallen behind 3-0 both nights. So entering the final period, Julien reshuffled all four of his forward lines.
The new combinations produced three goals and snapped Boston's two-game losing streak, as the Bruins rallied for a 3-1 win. They also showed enough to Julien that he'll at least open Friday's matinee with Carolina with his revamped line combinations.
That means Patrice Bergeron will be back on the top line between Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic, while David Krejci stays reunited with Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder. That combination produced great success two years ago, but struggled when together last season.
"It's something we put back together because we felt there was some familiarity between the three of them and they could hopefully build off some of that chemistry they had in the past," said Julien.
With Wheeler back on the wing, Tyler Seguin returns to center, but on the fourth line with Brad Marchand and Shawn Thornton. Greg Campbell moves up between Mark Recchi and Jordan Caron, while Daniel Paille remains the healthy scratch.
Julien hopes Wednesday's third-period success will carry over, but admits he isn't sure it was the new line combinations that keyed that particular rally.
"Sometimes you shake things up and it just kind of gives it a jolt," said Julien. "Hopefully you react to it and I thought our team did. But I've also seen our team react in the third without making those changes. So I can't tell you right now whether it was that move or it was just that they decided they were going to play again in the third."
Julien also confirmed that Tim Thomas will get the start again in goal. He's 11-1-1 with a 1.46 GAA, .955 save percentage and four shutouts this season, and is 7-7-1 with a 2.90 GAA and a .916 save percentage in his career against Carolina.
For Carolina, Cam Ward is expected to get the start in goal. He's 9-7-1 with a 2.84 GAA and a .914 save percentage this season, and his career numbers against Boston are eerily similar at 7-7-2 with a 2.88 GAA and a .906 save percentage.
The Hurricanes won't have any scratches, healthy or otherwise. Carolina is carrying just the minimum 20 players on the roster, making the decisions easy for coach Paul Maurice. The Hurricanes have been very fortunate on the injury front this year, losing just four man-games to injury all season. They don't have any players injured currently.
Projected Bruins lines:
Forwards
Milan Lucic-Patrice Bergeron-Nathan Horton
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Jordan Caron-Gregory Campbell-Mark Recchi
Brad Marchand-Tyler Seguin-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Andrew Ference
Matt Hunwick-Dennis Seidenberg
Mark Stuart- Johnny Boychuk
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Daniel Paille, Adam McQuaid
Projected Hurricanes lines:
Forwards
Sergei Samsonov-Eric Staal-Chad LaRose
Jussi Jokinen-Brandon Sutter-Patrick Dwyer
Jeff Skinner-Tuomo Ruutu-Erik Cole
Jiri Tlusty-Ryan Carter-Troy Bodie
Defense
Joe Corvo-Tim Gleason
Joni Pitkanen-Ian White
Jamie McBain-Jay Harrison
Goalies
Cam Ward
Justin Peters
Scratches: None
