Good news has been hard to come by for the Boston Bruins in the last week or two, but head coach Claude Julien confirmed a couple of bits of good news Thursday morning.
Julien said forward Carl Soderberg and defenseman Dougie Hamilton will be back in the lineup Thursday night when the Bruins take on the Nashville Predators for the second time in less than two weeks. It will be Soderberg’s first appearance since he suffered concussion-like symptoms Friday night against the Ottawa Senators. For Hamilton, it’s his first game action in almost a month after he suffered a lower-body injury Dec. 8 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hamilton’s return will be especially welcomed since the Bruins lost Dennis Seidenberg for the rest of the season after the veteran blue liner suffered a torn ACL and MCL last Friday. In the two games since Seidenberg was injured, the Bruins have allowed a combined nine goals to Ottawa and the New York Islanders, so any defensive help is welcomed.
Kevan Miller, who was recalled earlier in the week and played Tuesday night against the Islanders, will be the Bruins’ healthy scratch Thursday night.
The Bruins will turn to Niklas Svedberg against the Predators, with the rookie goalie making his NHL debut.
Here are the rest of the projected lines for Thursday’s night game.
Bruins (26-12-2, 54 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 — Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski — Dougie Hamilton
Predators (18-18-4, 40 points)
Colin Wilson — Mike Fisher — Patric Hornqvist
Gabriel Bourque — Matt Cullen — Viktor Stalberg
Nick Spaling — David Legwand — Craig Smith
Eric Nystrom — Paul Gaustad — Matt Hendricks
Shea Weber — Roman Josi
Mattias Ekholm — Seth Jones
Kevin Klein — Ryan Ellis
