The Bruins have just a little more than a week of the regular season left, but there’s still plenty of uncertainty as to what the team will look like when the postseason begins.
B’s coach Claude Julien continues to juggle the line for a multitude of reasons. The Bruins have actually added to their lineup as of late with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand coming back from injury in addition to working recently acquired Carl Soderberg into the mix. Another reason Julien has to shuffle his lineup is some lackluster play from some players in the lineup.
One player that’s taken the wrath of some fans and media is Milan Lucic. However, the big forward has remained in the good graces of Julien, skating on the first line alongside David Krejci and Nathan Horton. Julien appears to be fed up, though. Lucic was on the de facto fourth line Wednesday night, and he may not find himself in the lineup Friday night when Boston hosts the Penguins. Lucic has just two goals since Feb. 26. His 10:53 of ice time Wednesday night was his least of the season, aside from Feb. 24 in Florida when he had 14 penalty minutes in a win over the Panthers.
Lucic was wearing a green jersey at practice Thursday, which indicates he may be a healthy scratch Friday. Players wearing green jerseys at Wednesday’s morning skate did not play in the game against Buffalo. Lucic also didn’t find himself on any of the top four lines at practice Thursday.
Here are the line combinations, according to the team’s Twitter account.
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Those lines are drastic changes from Wednesday night as well. Only the  Bergeron line remains intact, and for good reason, as that was one of the club’s best lines. It’s also interesting to note that Julien broke up Daniel Paille and Chris Kelly, as they combined for the two Boston goals in the club’s shootout loss to Buffalo.
“Yeah I thought that line went very good for us tonight,” Julien said after the game. “You know, Bergeron’s line was good too as far as moving pucks around and so on and so forth. So those two lines I thought had a real decent night.”
