The Bruins will try to bounce back from Saturday's stunning loss in Montreal as they take on the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Monday.
They'll catch a break with NHL leading scorer Sidney Crosby sidelined with a concussion. Bruins center Marc Savard knows way more than he ever wanted to about that subject, and he'll play his first game against Pittsburgh since he suffered a severe concussion on a blindside hit from Penguins cheap-shot artist Matt Cooke last March.
It will be a big night for Matt Bartkowski, as the rookie defenseman is expected to make his NHL debut in his hometown after being recalled on an emergency basis on Sunday. Bartkowski opened the season with the big club and accompanied it on its trip to Europe, but did not play in any games. The Pittsburgh native was assigned to Providence when the team returned.
"I haven't seen him play since he left our team after coming back from Prague, but [he's] another one of those young defensemen that I've been told continues to make great progress," Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters after Monday's optional morning skate. "We liked him in camp enough to have to make that tough decision between bringing him or [Steven] Kampfer to Prague. They were both pretty dead even in our thought process. We'll see how well he's progressed [Monday night]."
Julien revealed that Adam McQuaid is the Bruins blueliner who was injured Saturday in Montreal, but would not specify the nature of the injury. McQuaid missed practice on Sunday and did not skate on Monday, with Julien stating he is day-to-day.
Nathan Horton remains under the same designation with the undisclosed "discomfort" that kept him out of Saturday's game. Horton did skate Monday morning, but remained on the ice for extra work, indicating he'll likely miss this game as well, though he shouldn't be out too much longer.
Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice at the optional skate, usually an indication that he will get the start in this one.
Marc-Andre Fleury was first off for the Penguins, who are dealing with some injuries of their own. In addition to Crosby, enforcer Eric Godard is sidelined with an eye injury, Mike Comrie is on injured reserve with a hip injury and several players are battling an illness.
Evgeni Malkin, Chris Conner and Brooks Orpik all returned to the ice Monday morning after missing practice Sunday and are expected to play, but Arron Asham will likely miss the game due to sickness. Dustin Jeffrey was recalled from Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to replace Asham on the fourth line.
The only healthy scratch for Pittsburgh will be on defense, where tough guy Deryk Engelland and Canaan, N.H., native Ben Lovejoy have alternated games as the club's sixth defenseman. With Godard and Asham out, the Penguins may opt for the toughness of Engelland against the Bruins in this one.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Michael Ryder
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Steven Kampfer
Dennis Seidenberg-Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowski-Andrew Ference
Goalies
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
Scratches: Nathan Horton (undisclosed), Adam McQuaid (undisclosed), Mark Stuart (hand)
Projected Penguins lines
Forwards
Chris Kunitz-Evgenu Malkin-Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy
Michael Rupp-Mark Letestu-Chris Conner
Dustin Jeffrey-Max Talbot-Craig Adams
Defense
Brooks Orpik-Kris Letang
Paul Martin-Zbynek Michalek
Deryk Engelland-Alex Goligoski
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brent Johnson
Scratches: Sidney Crosby (concussion), Arron Asham (illness), Eric Gogard (eye), Ben Lovejoy
