The Boston Bruins aren’t completely healthy yet, but they’re getting close. The latest proof of that will come Friday night against the Ottawa Senators.
Fourth-line forward Daniel Paille will be back in the lineup as the Bruins take on the Senators at TD Garden in Boston’s first game back after the three-day holiday break. It will be the winger’s first appearance since he suffered an injury that left him with concussion-like symptoms Dec. 8 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins’ injury problems have been a lingering issue, but Paille’s return is a step in the right direction. Adam McQuaid‘s recent return was helpful, too, and there are encouraging signs in regards to other ailing players. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton was expected to be out 2 to 4 weeks after suffering a lower body injury Dec. 8. He just passed that two-week mark and has since resumed skating. Forward Loui Eriksson, who suffered a concussion Dec. 7, hasn’t resumed skating yet, but he is making progress.
Tuukka Rask is still healthy, and he’ll be in net Friday night. He’ll be opposed by Ottawa’s Robin Lehner in the first game of a home-and-home, back-to-back series between the Atlantic Division rivals.
Here the projected lines for Friday night’s game.
Bruins (25-10-2, 52 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Reilly Smith
Carl Soderberg — Ryan Spooner — Matt Fraser
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Jordan Caron
Zdeno Chara — Torey Krug
Dennis Seidenberg — Johnny Boychuk
Adam McQuaid — David Warsofsky
Senators (15-17-7, 37 points)
Cory Conacher — Jason Spezza — Milan Michalek
Clarke MacArthur — Kyle Turris — Bobby Ryan
Colin Greening — Zack Smith — Chris Neil
Mika Zibanejad — Jean-Gabriel Pagaeu — Erik Condra
Jared Cowen — Erik Karlsson
Cody Ceci — Chris Phillips
Marc Methot — Eric Gryba
