The Bruins and Canadiens face off Wednesday night in Game 7 at the Garden, less than 24 hours after the Habs stayed alive with a 2-1 win in Montreal on Tuesday.
The Bruins don't appear to be making any lineup changes. Forward Milan Lucic, who was given a boarding major and a game misconduct in the second period on Tuesday for a hit that left Montreal defenseman Jaroslav Spacek dazed and bloody, won't face any further discipline and will play in Game 7.
Bruins coach Claude Julien also isn't planning to make any other changes to switch things up after Tuesday's loss. "Not as we speak," Julien said when asked about the possibility of roster changes at his pre-game press briefing Wednesday afternoon.
That leaves Tim Thomas in goal once again after the Vezina finalist has posted a 3-3 record with a 2.16 GAA and a .927 save percentage through the first six games of the series.
It also leaves Tyler Seguin and Shane Hnidy as the healthy scratches once again.
For Montreal, the decisions are more difficult with several players battling injuries. Forward David Desharnais and defenseman James Wisniewski both missed Game 6 with undisclosed injuries suffered in Game 5. Wisniewski did skate in the warm-up on Tuesday, but was replaced by Paul Mara.
Yannick Weber replaced Desharnais, while Benoit Pouliot remained a healthy scratch for the third straight game.
Desharnais and Wisniewski will be game-time decisions once again on Wednesday, with the final call not likely until after the pre-game warm-up. Spacek and Lars Eller were also shaken up during Game 6, but returned to finish the contest.
The Habs will stick with Carey Price in goal. Like Thomas, he is 3-3 in the series and has posted an even more impressive 1.85 GAA and a .942 save percentage.
Price and the Habs have been particularly successful in shutting down the Bruins' power play. Boston was 0-for-4 with just two shots on Tuesday and is 0-for-19 on the power play in the series. That unit's failures have been the subject of much discussion throughout the series, but Julien didn't have much to say when asked about it on Wednesday.
"I'm not really going to comment on our power play right now," Julien said. "What I am commenting on is something positive and that's about winning this hockey game tonight. We're going to try to make our power play better. It's not from lack of trying from our end. Right now it's a matter of finding a way to score goals on the power play."
Montreal scored both of its goals in Game 6 on two-man advantages and is 4-for-23 overall on the power play. The Bruins will need to finally get some production out of their special teams if they want to extend their season beyond Wednesday.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Tyler Seguin, Shane Hnidy, Matt Bartkowski, Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel, Anton Khudobin
Projected Canadiens lines
Forwards
Michael Cammalleri-Tomas Plekanec-Andrei Kostitsyn
Travis Moen-Scott Gomez-Brian Gionta
Mathieu Darche-Lars Eller-Jeff Halpern
Yannick Weber-Tom Pyatt-Ryan White
Defense
Romas Hamrlik-Jaroslav Spacek
Hal Gill-P.K. Subban
Paul Mara-Brent Sopel
Goalies
Carey Price
Alex Auld
Scratches: David Desharnais, James Wisniewski, Benoit Pouliot, Alexandre Picard
