BOSTON — The best the Western Conference has to offer invades TD Garden on Thursday night as the Bruins host the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks boast the best record in the West and the leading scorer in the NHL in winger Patrick Kane, who’s matched his jersey number with 88 points this season. Kane, left wing Artemi Panarin and center Artem Anisimov make up the NHL’s most dangerous line.
“Well, he’s one of those guys that you’ve got to keep an eye on all the time,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said Thursday morning. “You know, he’s got that knack to kind of disappear and you lose sight of him, and the first thing you know, he appears in a real good scoring area. When he does have the puck, he’s got great vision. He makes plays. He makes things happen. (He’s) a real exceptional player for this league — probably one of the better ones, if not the best one right now.”
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville confirmed that Scott Darling would start in net against the Bruins and that former Monteal Canadiens winger Dale Weise would make his Chicago debut. Weise, whom the Hawks acquired ahead of Monday’s NHL trade deadline, is best known around Boston for his rivalry with Milan Lucic during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Bruins, who are seeking a return to the playoffs after falling short last season, have won three of their last four, most recently edging the Calgary Flames 2-1 on Tuesday at TD Garden. Boston has not won consecutive games on home ice since mid-December.
Here are Thursday’s projected lines and pairings:
BOSTON BRUINS (35-23-6)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Lee Stempniak
Loui Eriksson — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey — Ryan Spooner — Jimmy Hayes
Landon Ferraro — Noel Acciari — Brett Connolly
Zdeno Chara — Kevan Miller
Torey Krug — Dennis Seidenberg
John-Michael Liles — Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (40-20-5)
Andrew Ladd — Jonathan Toews — Andrew Shaw
Artemi Panarin — Ansem Anisimov — Patrick Kane
Andrew Desjardins — Teuvo Teravainen — Tomas Fleischmann
Brandon Mashinter — Dennis Rasmussen — Dale Weise
Duncan Keith — Niklas Hjalmarsson
Erik Gustafsson — Brent Seabrook
Trevor van Riemsdyk — Christian Ehrhoff
Scott Darling
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
