BOSTON — The distance between Boston and Providence isn’t a big one, as about 50 miles separates the two New England cities. There’s a growing group of players in the Bruins organization that knows that trip pretty well by now.
The Bruins have had to dip into their AHL affiliate a bunch of times already this season for emergency call-ups, and that trend continued Saturday morning when the Bruins recalled Justin Florek from Providence. He’s expected to make his NHL debut Saturday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets, as Bruins coach Claude Julien said fourth-line winger Jordan Caron is battling some back soreness.
If Florek does indeed get the call, he would be the sixth player this season to make his NHL debut wearing the spoked-B.
Torey Krug will be a gametime decision on Saturday afternoon. He was given a maintenance day at practice Friday, and Julien said Saturday that Krug will skate in the warmups and then a decision will be made.
Tuukka Rask is expected to start in goal for the Bruins against Winnipeg, while the Jets are starting Ondrej Pavelec in net.
Bruins (27-12-2, 56 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Reilly Smith
Carl Soderberg — Ryan Spooner — Matt Fraser
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Justin Florek
Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Matt Bartkowski — Johnny Boychuk
Jets (19-19-5, 43 points)
Andrew Ladd — Bryan Little — Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane — Mark Scheifele — Michael Frolik
Chris Thorburn — Olli Jokinen — Devin Setoguchi
Eric Tangradi — James Wright — Anthony Peluso
Dustin Byfuglien — Keaton Ellerby
Jacob Trouba — Tobias Enstrom
Mark Stuart — Zach Bogosian
