They did look somewhat competent on the man-advantage, and Tuukka Rask made a big save on Rick Nash.

First period, 12:29, 0-0: Now it’s time for the Rangers to go on a power play, which has been good news for the Bruins when it’s happened so far in this series.

The Rangers are 0-for-10 with the man-advantage in this series and they are just 2 for their last 38. Matt Bartkowski is the guilty party, as he was called for slashing.

First period, 6:10, 0-0: The Bruins didn’t get much of anything at all going on the power play, and we’re scoreless because of it.

The new Rangers’ fourth line looks like they’re all about trying to mix it up. They took a couple of runs in their first shift opposite Boston’s fourth line, and Derek Dorsett tried to get Adam McQuaid to engage in a fight to no avail.

With how well the Bruins’ fourth line has played in this series, especially in Game 3, it makes no sense for any of them to drop the gloves at this point.

First period, 1:43, 0-0: The Bruins will get the game’s first power play, and their first power play in New York.

Welcome back, Roman Hamrlik, as he’s called for delay of game as he fires the puck over the glass.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The first period is underway, and the Bruins are looking to sweep away the Rangers.

6:38 p.m.: The Bruins have taken the ice for pregame warmups, and by golly, no lineup changes.

Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden didn’t even go out for the skate, so they’re out.

On the Rangers’ side, Brad Richards and Arron Asham are out, Micheal Haley and Kris Newbury are in. On the blue line, Anton Stralman is out, and he’ll be replaced by veteran blue liner Roman Hamrlik.

6:25 p.m.: If the Bruins win Game 4, and that’s still a big if, at this point, will John Tortorella lose his job because of it?

John Giannone just said on NESN pregame coverage that he thinks Tortorella will be safe no matter what happens in Game 4 and in the rest of this series. Giannone speculated that since Tortorella didn’t get a full training camp to work out his club, he didn’t get a chance to fully implement his style of play. Quite frankly, I don’t buy that one bit. I do think that Tortorella’s job should be in jeopardy if the Rangers lose this game. It might be time for a change of voice in The Big Apple if the Rangers can’t come back and make a series out of this. It just looks like that team is starting to kind of tune him out. That’s something that should be considered before the lack of a training camp or some other excuse like that.

6 p.m.: It’s almost hockey time.

As a reminder, we’ve got the 7 p.m. puck drop instead of the 7:30 p.m. start we’ve seen in the other night games in this series. Also, pregame coverage is beginning right now on NESNplus.

3:10 p.m.: Claude Julien isn’t going to offer any clue as to what lineup he’ll go with for Game 4.

“Our lineup will be on the ice for warmup tonight, guys,” he told the media in a minute-long session after his club’s morning skate. “That’s all I’m gonna say about that.”

The obvious decision will be what the club does on the blue line with its defensemen. The Bruins have obviously won all three games with a blue line featuring three rookies. However, both Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden are getting healthy; both players were on the ice for morning skate.

However, the Bruins did go with the same defensive pairs during the skate that they have used all three games of this series. Wade Redden and Dennis Seidenberg were paired together as the fourth pair, which would seem to indicate they’ll be out for at least one more game.

It would make some sense, too, given the team’s lead in the series. If the Bruins can close out the series tonight, and they can do so without putting either of those veteran D-men in, why wouldn’t they do it? They’re looking at a few days of rest if they can close it out in Game 4, which would allow both guys time to get healthy. So you can go ahead and add that to the list of reasons it’s big for the Bruins to clinch Thursday night.

3 p.m.: Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist hasn’t necessarily been great in this series, and the Bruins have certainly taken advantage of that.

The New York goalie was great in Game 3, though, but the Bruins were still able to escape with the win. They got a little help with some puck luck, according to Lundqvist.

“”I’ve looked at a few games and they definitely got some lucky bounces,” Lundqvist said, according to ESPN.

See what else Lundqvist had to say by clicking here.

1:10 p.m.: Jaromir Jagr was not on the ice for morning skate, but that doesn’t appear to be much of an issue at all. He skated Wednesday at an optional practice, so he’ll be good to go for Game 4.

1:05 p.m.: So as we said, Brad Richards is out for Game 4, but that’s not the only lineup change the Rangers are making.

Arron Asham and Anton Stralman also appear to be out. Get caught up with all of the lineup changes by clicking here.

12:05 p.m.: The biggest news out of New York in advance of Game 4 is that the Rangers will be without a past Conn Smythe winner, and it’s by the head coach’s choice.

New York forward Brad Richards will not play, as John Tortorella is making him a healthy scratch for a do-or-die Game 4.

8 a.m. ET: The Bruins will be in a familiar position when the puck drops for Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, and they can call on examples of both the right way and the wrong way to handle the situation.

The B’s will take on the Rangers on Thursday night, and they’ll have a chance to end the Rangers’ season. Boston enters Game 4 holding the 3-0 series lead after the 2-1 win over the Blueshirts on Tuesday night. Only a few teams have blown a 3-0 series lead, including this Bruins team, under Claude Julien, just three years ago against the Flyers. Of course, the Bruins bounced back a year later to win the Stanley Cup, and sweeping the Flyers in the process.

Boston got another reminder of how important it is to close a series in the first round of this year’s playoffs, too. Toronto pushed the B’s to the brink after the Bruins had a 3-1 series lead before hanging on to win the series with a Game 7 overtime win.

So if anyone knows the importance of closing things out with a big series lead, it should be the Bruins. The Rangers aren’t necessarily inspiring any confidence right now, either. New York has been outplayed in all three games of the series, and even with Henrik Lundqvist standing on his head in Game 3, it just wasn’t quite enough. Making matters worse for John Tortorella’s bunch is that they’re a little banged up following a physical, bloody Game 3. Both defenseman Anton Stralman and forward Chris Kreider both left games with injuries Tuesday night that will bear keeping an eye on in Game 4.

Other than that, Game 4 will be all about which team is the more desperate team. The Rangers’ desperation is obvious. The Bruins, meanwhile, would probably love nothing more than to end the series now and get some rest in advance of the Eastern Conference finals.

Puck drop for Game 4 is set for just after 7 p.m. in New York.

Third period, 18:00, Bruins 5-2: There are two minutes to play, and the Bruins are still leading by three.

Third period, 13:09, Bruins 5-2: The fun continues, this time with the fisticuffs.

Gregory Campbell and Derek Dorsett just dropped the gloves not long after the Milan Lucic goal.

Third period, 12:39, Bruins 5-2: This one is officially a laugher.

Milan Lucic continues to play extremely well in these playoffs, and this time it’s a gritty second-chance goal to give the Bruins the three-goal lead.

Third period, 10:32, Bruins 4-2: The Bruins were able to kill off the New York penalty behind a couple of more saves from Tuukka Rask.

A few minutes later Jaromir Jagr had a brilliant chance for a one-timer goal from just in front of the net, but Henrik Lundqvist denied Jagr with arguably the best save of the series.

Third period, 5:24, Bruins 4-2: Johnny Boychuk just earned himself a hooking penalty. So that’s what the Bruins will be working on for the next two minutes.

Third period, 0:26, Bruins 4-2: That didn’t take long at all.

Patrice Bergeron just found Brad Marchand in the slot, and the latter slid the puck through Henrik Lundqvist’s legs, and the B’s have a 4-2 lead now.

Third period, 0:01, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins and Rangers are underway here in the third period.

Second period reaction: The Bruins, for the first time all game, were able to sit on a lead there in the second period. After Johnny Boychuk made it 3-2 with 7:52 to play in the period, the B’s were able to make the lead stand up until intermission, after coughing up early leads just moments after taking them.

Of course it’s not extremely important for the Bruins to protect that lead here into the third period, which is something that has given them troubles all season long. It’s going to require another big period from Tuukka Rask who is a big reason Boston took the 3-2 lead to the dressing room after two. Rask has 25 saves through 40 minutes, and it certainly won’t hurt to have him at his best in overtime.

If the Bruins do hold on, you can probably exect Torey Krug to be donning the Army Rangers jacket after the game. The rookie has been sensational here in Game 2, and he’s got two points to show that. His ability to handle the puck at the blue line in the offensive end is something that’s obviously pretty special. He did a great job of finding a shooting lane on the Bruins’ second goal that came when Krug put the puck on net and Gregory Campbell backhanded the rebound.

The Bruins were 15-4-4 when taking a lead into the third period during the regular season, but they’re 2-0 this postseason when leading after two periods.

End second period, Bruins 3-2: The second period comes to a close with Boston leading 3-2.

Second period, 17:59, Bruins 3-2: The Rangers weren’t able to score on the power play, but it wasn’t for a lack of chances. They put some good pressure on the Bruins as they have all afternoon really, but Tuukka Rask came up big in between the pipes.

He’s quietly having a very nice game, and he’s getting better as the game goes on it seems.

Second period, 13:57, Bruins 3-2: The Rangers have another power play, again thanks to a Rich Peverley high-sticking penalty.

Second period, 12:00, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins are back out in front thanks to a great shot from the high slot off the stick of Johnny Boychuk.

The Boston defenseman beat Henrik Lundqvist with a wrister, with a little help from a Patrice Bergeron screen in front.

Second period, 11:46, 2-2: The B’s weren’t able to get anything on the power play, but they did get a couple of scoring chances on pucks tipped near the net.

Torey Krug looked impressive with the puck on his stick, as he wheeled and dealed from the point during that man-advantage on the second PP unit with Dougie Hamilton at the other point up top.

Second period, 8:28, 2-2: The Bruins are going to get their first power play after Derrick Brassard hooked Dougie Hamilton.

Second period, 6:09, 2-2: The Rangers have gotten a significant jump from the Rick Nash goal, and they’re starting to put the pressure on the Bruins.

Tuukka Rask just ensured the game stay tied for now, though, with a big save on a rebound chance from Ryan McDonagh. After Rask made an initial save on Nash, McDonagh tried to slam home the rebound, but Rask made the right pad save in front.

Second period, 3:20, 2-2: The Rangers have been looking to get something out of Rick Nash, and they got it here in the second period.

The prominent goal-scorer just tied the game with a backhander by Tuukka Rask less than a minute after Gregory Campbell gave the B’s a lead.

Second period, 2:24, Bruins 2-1: Shawn Thornton spoke before the game about how he wished his line could finally cash in on their chances to add some balance to the scoring. They just did that here in the second period.

Campbell backhanded the rebound of a Torey Krug shot under the crossbar, and the B’s lead 2-1.

Second period, 0:10, 1-1: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: The first few minutes of this game were highly entertaining, thanks in large part to a couple of early goals. Unsurprisingly, however, the game tightened up after that, something that should come as no surprise given these teams’ penchant for defensive play.

Torey Krug got the scoring going early for the Bruins, and he continues to impress in his improbable playoff chance with the B’s. Both he and Matt Bartkowski have been really good in both Games 1 and 2, and Dougie Hamilton, despite being outplayed for a puck in the first period, has been good as well.

Give the Rangers credit for withstanding an early surge from the Bruins. The B’s came out like a house of fire to begin the game, and that reached a high point when Krug scored just 5:28 in. However, the Rangers took the punch and punched back. New York made it much more difficult for the Bruins to move the puck, and that obviously slowed Boston’s momentum.

End first period, 1-1: The Bruins killed off the penalty to Zdeno Chara before the first period comes to an end.

It’s all tied up 1-1 through one.

First period, 17:31, 1-1: The Bruins will try to kill off another penalty, this time to Zdeno Chara.

He was called for slashing, and the B’s get back to work on the PK.

First period, 16:22, 1-1: The young Bruins defensemen continue to do a great job of moving the puck and they continue to just look very confident.

Matt Bartkowski was just the latest to prove that by carrying the puck all the way behind the New York net, back around the other side and out to the point.

First period, 12:33, 1-1: The Bruins’ power play is nothing special, but boy does it look like a well-oiled machine compared to New York’s.

The B’s easily kill off the Rich Peverley penalty on a power play that produced no shots on goal. The Rangers had a difficult time just getting the puck into the Boston zone as they turned it over a handful of times on the man-advantage.

First period, 9:16, 1-1: New York gets the first power play of the day.

Rich Peverley was just called for high-sticking.

First period, 8:01, 1-1: The Rangers aren’t gonna go away that easy.

Ryan Callahan just won a race to the puck in the neutral zone that allowed him to walk in all alone and score the game-tying goal, a brilliant deke to beat Tuukka Rask.

The play started with an ugly Brad Marchand turnover, which was then misplayed by Dougie Hamilton who couldn’t beat Callahan to the loose puck.

First period, 5:28, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins look great breaking out the puck right now, and it resulted in a goal.

Adam McQuaid made a great diving play to break up a scoring chance for Brian Boyle, which sent the B’s heading the other way. Torey Krug hustled back into the offensive zone, and he was rewarded when Nathan Horton hit him with a pass as the D-man entered the zone.

Krug skated in and took the shot from the left wing and beat Henrik Lundqvist. Not a bad couple of playoff games for No. 47.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: It’s time to play the game. Game 2 is underway here at TD Garden.

3:06 p.m.: Both teams are going with the same lineups for Game 2 as they did for Game 1.

2:48 p.m.: The Bruins look to be going with the same lineup for Game 2 as they used in Game 1. They featured the same lines and defensive combinations during their pregame skate, including the three rookie defensemen.

Here’s what the lineup will look like, according to the skate. If you don’t have it down by now, start paying attention, will ya?

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Johnny Boychuk — Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid

2:30 p.m.: Claude Julien was extremely brief in his pregame remarks. He answered just one question (only one was asked), and it was about an update on the lineup.

Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden both skated this morning, but neither will play in Game 2.

1:20 p.m.: Good afternoon from TD Garden where the Bruins and Rangers are about two hours from getting underway and where we’re about 30 minutes from hearing from Bruins head coach Claude Julien.

When we do hear from the head coach, we should get a better idea of what the B’s will do on the blue line. As mentioned earlier, the B’s are reportedly going with the same defense corps for Game 1 as they did in Game 2. The one thing we know for certain is that Zdeno Chara will be in the lineup, and we’re pretty sure he’s going to play a ton.

I did some digging on the stats page in regards to Chara’s ice time this postseason, and it’s pretty remarkable. The only skater who has played more than Chara this postseason is Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. The Los Angeles D-man has 13 more minutes of ice time than Chara does this spring. Oh yeah, that’s also in one more game than Chara has played. Doughty is a minutes machine, and he has been all season long. It’s probably worth noting that Doughty is also only 23 years while Chara is 36.

Chara is also averaging 30:05 minutes of ice time per game for the playoffs, which is nothing short of absurd. That’s about 2 1/2 more minutes per game than he played in the Stanley Cup run back in 2011.

11:20 a.m.: The Bruins won Game 1 despite starting three rookies on defense, and it sounds like they’re going to have to go with the youthful trio again in Game 2.

TSN’s Darren Dreger just tweeted that Wade Redden isn’t ready to return, and it looks like the Bruins will go with the three rookies — Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug — for Game 2 as well.

11 a.m. ET: The Bruins have had a flare for the dramatics this week, and if they can do so with success again Sunday, they’ll end a pretty impressive week of hockey, and they’ll also head to New York with a pretty comfortable lead.

The B’s host the Rangers on Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series, and Boston is looking to follow up on an exciting Game 1 win. Brad Marchand finally broke out by scoring a game-winning goal in overtime to give the Bruins the win and the series lead.

Marchand played his best game of the playoffs in Game 1, and he did so in the second game of Claude Julien’s line experiment. Marchand was skating with Patrice Bergeron and Jaromir Jagr, while Tyler Seguin was on the third line; those were also the same lines the Bruins used in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto. The Marchand-Bergeron-Jagr combination looked solid all night, and unsurprisingly, that line was kept together at practice Saturday, so it’s likely that’s what the B’s go with again in Game 2.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are looking to jump-start themselves after a somewhat lackluster Game 1. The power play has been a point of contention, and it got the Rangers nothing in Game 1 as well. That led Rangers coach John Tortorella to say the man-advantage unit “stinks” right now, which makes you believe there may be a change.

We’ll get a better idea of that a little later when the Bruins and Rangers get underway in Game 2, with puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. at TD Garden.

Final, Bruins 3-2: 

The forward went straight to the net on a rush, Patrice Bergeron hit him with a beautiful pass and the B’s win.

Overtime, 10:51, 2-2: Johnny Boychuk has twice had the chance to win this game, and both times he hit the post.

Boychuk almost ended it in overtime, but the puck caught the post to Henrik Lundqvist’s right and we play on.

The Bruins are outshooting New York in overtime 11-2 so far.

Overtime, 5:00, 2-2: The Bruins got a ton of chances, but they didn’t score on the power play. That was two minutes of domination.

Overtime, 2:20, 2-2: Here’s something rare. An overtime penalty.

The B’s go on the power play after Derek Dorsett is called for interference.

Overtime, 0:01, 0:00: For the second time this week, overtime has begun.

End third period, 2-2: Whoa.

The Bruins really brought it in the final moments of the third period, and they did everything but score on the power play. The B’s got a couple of really good chances, but one of those was slowed by a fearless Dan Girardi just throwing himself around the ice blocking shots.

Johnny Boychuk had a chance of his own at the buzzer, but the defenseman hit the post with an absolute blast from the right point.

Third period, 17:51, 2-2: With 25 seconds left in the power play, the man-advantage ends for New York, and not with a goal.

John Moore was just called for interference, and that ends the power play, and it will give the B’s 1:35 of a power play once 4-on-4 play ends.

Third period, 16:16, 2-2: The Bruins will have to kill off yet another penalty.

This time it’s because Patrice Bergeron was just called for hooking.

Third period, 14:32, 2-2: Tuukka Rask gave up that goal early in the period, but he’s been rock solid since. He just made a nice blocker save on Steve Eminger as the New York defenseman jumped on a puck in the Boston zone and put it on net.

Matt Bartkowski continues to have a nice night. After breaking a stick in the neutral zone, Bartkowski just did the only thing he could do to slow the rush — deck Rick Nash with a body check in open ice. Good stuff so far from the Boston rookie.

Third period, 8:38, 2-2: The Bruins are turning it on here in the third period, and the pace of play is certainly picking up.

David Krejci just had a brilliant chance as he stickhandled through the slot and then put a shot toward the net that beat Henrik Lundqvist, but the puck hit the crossbar. The Bruins are certainly buzzing right now, and they’re getting chances.

Third period, 2:55, 2-2: Scoring. So much scoring.

Torey Krug makes the Rangers pay for the penalty, as he just scored his first career playoff goal. He beat Henrik Lundqivst with a shot from just above the left circle.

Third period, 1:09, Rangers 2-1: The Bruins will get a chance to tie it up on the power play.

Steve Eminger was called for holding.

Third period, 0:14, Rangers 2-1: That didn’t take long.

Derek Stepan just scored to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. We talked about potential momentum, and apparently it did carry over, with the second Rangers goal in 15.3 seconds of game time.

Second period reaction: That’s not the way the Bruins wanted to end the period, not one bit. That could prove to be an absolutely crippling goal, especially if the Rangers are able to sustain momentum through the intermission and into the third period.

Both teams were able to get on the board there in the second period, and both teams did it with kind of fluky goals. Again, expect that to continue to throughout the entire series. These teams are just too good on the blue line to fall apart defensively. On that now, however, it was bizarre to see Henrik Lundqvist give up a relatively soft goal. He should have had Zdeno Chara’s shot from the point, but he just couldn’t control it, and the puck squeezed through.

At the other end, it was defensive breakdowns, poor puck management and an inability to clear the zone that led to Ryan McDonagh’s goal. Tyler Seguin, who hasn’t been anything spectacular through two periods, coughed it up, and it cost the B’s dearly.

Second period, 19:58, 1-1: The Bruins couldn’t clear their own zone in the final seconds of the period, and it cost them.

Ryan McDonagh beat Tuukka Rask from the left point up over the goalie’s left shoulder with just 1.3 seconds to play in the period.

We’ll go to the intermission tied 1-1.

Second period, 16:13, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty with relative ease.

Second period, 13:52, Bruins 1-0: Shortly after the goal, the Bruins have to go back on the penalty kill.

Adam McQuaid was just called for interference, and the PK is back out on the ice.

Second period, 12:23, Bruins 1-0: Henrik Lundqvist may be one of the best in the game, but even he makes mistakes. That’s the case here, and the Bruins lead 1-0 because of it.

Lundqvist couldn’t quite close the pads on a Zdeno Chara slap shot form the point, and the puck eventually trickles through. Nathan Horton definitely helped it along.

Second period, 11:56, 0-0: The Bruins did a good job of coming out of that TV timeout and reversing the momentum some.

They just got a couple of good shifts, and that led to arguably the club’s best chance of the second period. Zdeno Chara put a shot toward the net from the point that looked to be tipped in the high slot by Nathan Horton. Either way, Henrik Lundqvist made the save.

The Bruins also just got another solid shift out of the Patrice Bergeron line, but blocked shots slowed that down.

Second period, 9:39, 0-0: The Bruins killed off the penalty, and we finally get a TV timeout a few minutes later after whistle-less play.

The Rangers are starting to pressure the B’s a little bit both with the power play and the few minutes that followed. They’re getting in the forecheck, and they’re also making it pretty difficult for the Bruins to get the puck through the neutral zone.

Second period, 4:38, 0-0: Zdeno Chara was just called for hooking, which means the Rangers will get a power play of their own now.

Second period, 4:26, 0-0: As far as Bruins power plays go, that was one of the better ones that didn’t end with a goal.

The B’s got a couple of good chances including shots from the right wing from both Tyler Seguin and David Krejci, but one hit the side of the net and the other was stopped.

Second period, 2:22, 0-0: The Bruins get the first power play of the night, but it might have come out at a price.

Tyler Pyatt is going off for boarding after planting Johnny Boychuk in the corner. Boychuk was definitely shaken up, but it looks like he’ll stay on the bench for now.

The Bruins have a chance to grab the lead on the power play now.

Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway, and Michael Del Zotto is back for the Rangers. He took a puck up near the head after blocking a Patrice Bergeron shot in the first and he left the ice. He’s good to go now apparently.

First period reaction: Did you miss the first period? If so, you didn’t miss much at all.

The Bruins and Rangers are scoreless through one, which really isn’t that much of a surprise given the way these two teams play. It’s really all about defense, which may make these head coaches happy, but it doesn’t make for the most entertaining hockey.

With it being scoreless, it must mean that the Bruins’ young D-men are doing at least a decent job, right? Yeah, pretty much. They’ve all been good enough, and I’ve been especially impressed with Matt Bartkowski. He’s already seen 8:17 of ice time, which is second only to Zdeno Chara on either team through 20 minutes. Torey Krug has been decent, and he showed a willingness to get a little nasty when he dumped the much bigger Brian Boyle into the Boston cage after a whistle.

The Rangers have been just as good, if not better defensively. Henrik Lundqvist is still one of the best goalies on the planet, and he extended his shutout streak to 140:00 with a scoreless first. The Rangers helped that along by blocking 10 shots in the first, but the Bruins do lead in shots 11-8 through one.

End first period, 0-0: The first period just came to an end with a flurry of activity at the New York net. It was the Patrice Bergeron line that put some pucks near the net, but they just couldn’t break through  to really get anything on net. Get used to that in this series.

First period, 13:09, 0-0: The Bruins should maybe be trailing 1-0 right now, but Tuukka Rask just got some help from the crossbar.

Michael Del Zotto beat the Bruins goalie with a wrist shot from the left point that beat Rask gloveside, but the puck found iron instead of the back of the net.

The Rangers got another chance shortly thereafter when Zdeno Chara coughed up the puck in his own zone. He and Dougie Hamilton have struggled to get the puck out of their own end so far, and it almost cost them there.

The Bruins have just five shots on goal through the first 13 minutes or so.

First period, 6:29, 0-0: Goals are expected to be at a premium in this series, and so far, that’s been the case, albeit just a few minutes in.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the Bruins’ defensemen — especially the younger guys — and they’ve done a good job so far. Matt Bartkowski looks like he’s getting confidence with every shift in these playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Boston fourth line is doing its job in the early going, getting in there with good, hard forechecks, and they’ve created the best chance for either team so far.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game is on.

7:13 p.m.: The Bruins are going to go with the same lines as they did in Game 7, per warmups, as are the Rangers.

Here are the Bruins’ defensive pairings.

Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Matt Bartkowski — Johnny Boychuk
Adam McQuaid — Torey Krug

7 p.m.: The Bruins just took the ice for pregame warmups. Unsurprisingly, they’re without Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden.

Brad Marchand is out there as well.

6:45 p.m.: Welcome to TD Garden where it is really cold up here on Level 9, which is press level. That makes sense, given that it’s about 85 degrees outside, so it’s pretty important to keep things cold in here to preserve the integrity of the ice. Say what you want about the new Garden, but at least we’re pretty sure the warm temperatures won’t lead to something like this happening again.

We’re about 15 minutes from pregame skate, so we’ll give an update once that begins when we should at the very least confirm our suspicions about the Game 1 lineup.

4:45 p.m.: The Rangers are going to block a ton of shots in this series. There’s no other way around it. That’s what they do under head coach John Tortorella, and don’t expect it to stop any time soon. They blocked 161 shots in the first round, which was 20 more than the next team, which was coincidentally the Maple Leafs.

“Got to find ways to get pucks to the net,” Claude Julien said after morning skate.  ”Just got to keep your head up when you’re shooting. They’re going to block shots no matter what. We just got to do the best we can do get them on net. When they don’t, well, they can block them and what can I do?

“As a team, you’re going to get some shots blocked because they like doing it. We’re just going to do our best to get them through and make sure they get to the net, and hopefully get some net-front traffic. That’s going to make things a little tougher for their goaltender, that’s not a secret.”

2:30 p.m.: The Rangers haven’t gotten any real good news in terms of some pretty rough injuries. Forwards Ryane Clowe and Darroll Powe are still out with suspected concussions, as is defenseman Marc Staal who remains out with his eye injury.

Here are the lines the Rangers used at practice Wednesday and again at morning skate on Thursday, per NorthJersey.com.

Carl Hagelin — Derek Stepan — Ryan Callahan
Rick Nash — Derick Brassard — Mats Zuccarello
Taylor Pyatt — Brian Boyle — Derek Dorsett
Chris Kreider — Brad Richards — Arron Asham

Ryan McDonagh — Anton Stralman
Dan Girardi — Michael Del Zotto
John Moore — Steve Eminger

2:11 p.m.: The Bruins, as discussed a little earlier, had to make some changes because of their injuries on the blue line. They showed those off at morning skate.

The B’s also used the same lines Thursday morning that they did Wednesday at practice. Here are the lines and D-pairs.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Matt Bartkowski — Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid

12:17 p.m.: While Marchand is likely playing on Thursday night, the availability of the trio of injured D-men (Seidenberg, Ference, Redden) “doesn’t look good,” according to Julien. -JB

12 p.m.: Brad Marchand will be playing on Thursday night, says head coach Claude Julien, despite the winger leaving morning skate early. Marchand left the ice just 20 minutes in, “wincing in pain,” in what appeared to be an injury. -JB

9 a.m. ET: Believe it or not, the Bruins did not win the Stanley Cup with their Game 7 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night at TD Garden. Far from it, actually.

While the comeback and thrilling OT win was something no one will soon forget, all it really did was get the Bruins through one round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’ll get a pretty stern reminder of that Thursday night when the B’s open their second-round series with the No. 6 seeded New York Rangers.

The B’s and Blueshirts are no strangers to each other. They met three times this season, with the Rangers winning twice. Those two wins, however, came in overtime, so the two teams actually both got four points out of the three meetings. After struggling in the season’s first couple of months, the Rangers turned it on late in the season, going 9-2-1 after the trade deadline to make the playoffs. They got a tough test in the first round as well where they had to go seven games to dispatch the No. 3 Washington Capitals. New York used shutouts in Games 6 and 7 from Henrik Lundqvist to win the series.

You can get a full preview of the Bruins-Rangers series by clicking here.

Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Patrice Bergeron cleans up the rebound of a Brad Marchand shot, and the Bruins win it in overtime 5-4.

Overtime, 4:21, 4-4: Tyler Seguin just got a shot on goal, but it was right into James Reimer’s chest.

Overtime, 2:54, 4-4: Zdeno Chara with the Bruins’ best chance of OT, a slap shot wide of the net.

Overtime, 2:11, 4-4: The Leafs get overtime’s best chance so far, but the Bruins get a big save from Tuukka Rask.

Overtime, 0:01, 4-4: It’s time for overtime. Don’t forget to breathe everyone.

End third period, 4-4: Overtime. In Game 7.

Third period, 19:10, 4-4: Holy bleep.

The Bruins have tied the score. Patrice Bergeron scores from the point with Zdeno Chara getting traffic in front.

Third period, 18:38, Maple Leafs 4-3: The Bruins, with the extra attacker on, have gotten within one.

Milan Lucic just cleaned up a rebound in front of the net and bangs it home. There’s still some time left…

Third period, 18:25, Maple Leafs 4-2: The Bruins’ net is empty.

Third period, 15:26, Maple Leafs 4-2; The Bruins have turned up the offensive heat, but they still have nothing to show for it. They’re putting shots on net, but their low-quality chances from the point or the tops of the dots. Once again, there’s a ton of puck cycling along the boards, and not much of anything else.

The Maple Leafs are not afraid to just hang out in the defensive zone, apparently, similar to Game 5 where the B’s attempted a comeback in the third as well. They’ll probably have chances, but converting them is a whole different story.

Third period, 9:18, Maple Leafs 4-2: Is there a good chance the Bruins come back? No, not really. Is the game over yet? Technically, no.

The Bruins just cut the lead in two with a goal from Nathan Horton, and the Bruins now trail by two.

Third period, 8:58, Maple Leafs 4-1: It’s starting to feel like the Bruins are just playing out the string here.

They do have six shots on goal here in the third — that equals their total in the second period — and they’re up to 19 for the game. However, there really haven’t been any good scoring chances, as the Leafs have done a good job of clearing out any potential second-chance opportunities.

Third period, 5:29, Maple Leafs 4-1: This one is looking like it might be just about over.

Phil Kessel is at it again, and this time it’s on the defensive end. The forward blocked a Milan Lucic shot, and then took off down the ice where he eventually fed Nazem Kadri for a goal on a 2-on-1.

Third period, 2:09, Maple Leafs 3-1: Well, it’s pretty fitting that Phil Kessel has had a great series, and he may be the one who just sent the Bruins to vacation.

Kessel cleaned up a rebound at the Bruins’ net, and Tuukka Rask was way too far away from the puck on the other side of the crease to get back and stop the rebound chance.

Third period, 0:01, Maple Leafs 2-1: Well, here we go. The Bruins are 20 minutes away from elimination, as we begin play here in the third.

Second period reaction: The Bruins are playing against a goalie who has been shaky with rebounds all series long. The Bruins have won 29 of 36 faceoffs through two periods. Yet, the Bruins only have 13 shots through two periods.

That’s becoming the story for the Bruins, as we find ourselves looking at another “meh” two-period effort from a team that is now 20 minutes away from coughing up a 3-1 series lead and heading home for the summer.

The Bruins’ offense remains the issue, as they’ve actually done a pretty good job without Dennis Seidenberg. They’ve stepped up in a big way, and have limited the really good chances for Toronto, whose second-period goal came on a shot from the point that had a lot of traffic in front.

Once again, the lack of production from the top two lines — or the guys who should be on those top two lines — is just head-scratching. Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand have combined for, wait for it, zero shots on goal through two periods.

End second period, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins possessed the puck late in the period on that power play, but they couldn’t do anything with it. That’s thanks in large part to an unwillingness to shoot. Not only do they look tired, they look tight.

They’ll have 8 seconds on the power play to open the third period.

Second period, 18:08, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins have a chance to tie it up before the period ends, and they’ll get it on the power play.

Joffrey Lupul was just called for tripping.

Second period, 15:14, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins, as they have all year, just turned in a fantastic penalty kill. It was a PK that produced chances as well, which is something else we’ve seen all year.

The level of nasty is getting picked up, too. Joffrey Lupul and Tuukka Rask just got tangled up in the Boston net and they exchange some swipes and such.

Second period, 13:02, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Maple Leafs get another power play after Milan Lucic takes what was kind of a dumb penalty.

Lucic got into a shoving match with Dion Phaneuf behind the Toronto net, and the Toronto captain eventually just put his hands down and Lucic kept going. The Boston forward gets the rouging penalt.y

Second period, 10:38, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins are starting to look like a tired team that’s undermanned, and that’s not good news for B’s fans.

The Bruins have just 11 shots on goal through a period and a half, and they’re still trying to fend off the Toronto attack, which shows no signs of letting up. We’ve still yet to see Dennis Seidenberg in the second period, and if we haven’t seen him by now, it’s unlikely he’s going to magically heal in this one.

That’s a loss that the B’s — who are playing two rookie D-men — are already starting to feel.

Second period, 5:48, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins couldn’t do anything with the power play, and the Maple Leafs just made them pay for it a couple of minutes later.

Cody Franson just ripped a blast from the right point by Tuukka Rask for the defenseman’s second goal of the game, and Toronto has its first lead of Game 7.

The Maple Leafs did a great job of getting traffic in front of Rask, and it’s unlikely he ever saw the blast from the point.

Second period, 4:25, 1-1: The Bruins can’t get anything on the power play.

Tyler Seguin had a great chance from the right circle, but he missed the net. That’s becoming a recurring theme in this series.

Second period, 0:33, 1-1: The Bruins get another power play. This time it’s when Nazem Kadri interferes with Johnny Boychuk. The Boston defenseman went crashing into the boards, but he appears to be OK.

Second period, 0:01, 1-1: The second period is underway.

Dennis Seidenberg was out on the ice out of the room skating very gingerly.  He took a couple of quick twirls and then back to the bench. Looked painful.

First period reaction: That was, at the very least, a very entertaining first period.

The big thing we’ll be keeping an eye on once the second period begins will be whether or not Dennis Seidenberg returns to the ice. The veteran defenseman played just two shifts in the first period. According to reports, the D-man came onto the ice at one point and took a quick twirl, but he obviously didn’t return to the game. That led to increased minutes for everyone else, including Zdeno Chara who played 10:34 in the first. Matt Bartkowski played a fine period scoring his first career goal and having a solid period defensively, which included a big hit on Joffrey Lupul.

Up front, Claude Julien finally made an adjustment with his lines by moving Jaromir Jagr up to the second line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. It hasn’t produced anything in terms of goals yet, but they had a couple of good shifts. That’s a little more than you could say about the line previously, so it’s a step in the right direction. Tyler SEguin is now down on the third line where they haven’t done much of anything, but that’s not anything new in this series.

End first period, 1-1: The first period comes to an end, and we still haven’t seen Dennis SEidenberg since 1:44 of the period.

First period, 15:14, 1-1: The Bruins are starting to take some heat from the Maple Leafs, but Tuukka Rask is doing a nice job of keeping it tied.

He just made a big save on former Bruins prospect Joe Colborne as Colborne picked up a loose puck on the right wing and walked in fairly alone.

He did so after Matt Bartkowski pinned Joffrey Lupul to the boards with a textbook hip check. Bartkowski is having a nice game in the early going.

He’ll have to be better, though, as Dennis Seidenberg hasn’t played in about 10 minutes, with what you have to think is an injury of some sort.

First period, 12:23, 1-1: The Bruins have made a lineup change, that they’ve stuck with so far. Jaromir Jagr is up on the second line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, and Tyler Seguin has been dropped down with Chris Kelly and Riche Peverley.

First period, 9:35, 1-1: The game is tied, thanks to another power-play goal from the Maple Leafs.

Cody Franson does a little bit of redeeming as he cleans up a rebound in front of Tuukka Rask and jams home the tying goal. Dougie Hamilton couldn’t control the rebound and Franson jumped all over it.

First period, 7:41, Bruins 1-0: Tuukka Rask just made his biggest save of the game so far, but the Bruins will have to kill off another penalty.

Rask stopped Joffrey Lupul on a breakaway, but the Toronto forward was caught with a high-stick after the play, so the Bruins will have to kill off another penalty without one of their best killers.

First period, 5:39, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins strike first.

Matt Bartkowski just scored his first career playoff goal, after a horrible giveaway from Cody Franson. David Krejci did a great job of getting in front of James Reimer.

First period, 4:12, 0-0: The Bruins killed off the penalty, but not without a couple of close chances, including a puck that rolled through the paint.

First period, 2:00, 0-0: The Maple Leafs will get the first power play of the game.

Rich Peverley picked up a tripping penalty and followed that up with a roughing penalty after the play. Nazem Kadri will go with him, though, as he’s sent off for holding.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: It’s go time. Game 7 is underway.

7:01 p.m.: So, as a giant Bruins flag makes its way across the fans in the lower bowl, NESN’s Naoko Funayama just tweeted that the Bruins aren’t going with the same line up for Game 7.

According to her, the Bruins have scratched veteran defenseman Wade Redden, meaning that both Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski will be in the lineup. That’s a bold move to say the least.

6:50 p.m.: Meant to touch on this earlier, but Tyler Bozak is out of the Toronto lineup. He didn’t even make the trip back to Boston. He was also out for Game 6.

6:38 p.m.: Pregame warmups are currently going on, and it looks like there will be no lineup changes fro the Bruins — at least if things stay the same as the pregame skate.

Here are the lines, in case you haven’t been paying attention for some reason.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg — Adam McQuaid
Wade Redden — Dougie Hamilton

6:13 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to TD Garden for what some are saying is an unlikely Game 7 showdown between the Bruins and Maple Leafs.

Claude Julien just got done speaking to the media, and the biggest news that came from that is that Andrew Ference is out for Game 7. He was also out for Game 6, so he’s obviously dealing with something pretty substantial. According to one report, Ference had a walking boot on as he entered the Garden.

2:30 p.m.: Now it’s time to take a look at some meaningless stats that will mean absolutely nothing in Game 7, but we bring them up to pass the time and fill the space.

So here we go.

The Bruins are 12-11 all time in Game 7s. The Maple Leafs are 12-9 in the same situation.

This is the fifth time that the Bruins have been taken to a Game 7 in a series in which they’ve led 3-1. They’re 2-2 in the other four times that’s happened. The most recent, of course, came in 2010 when the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead, and they blew a 3-1 lead in 2004 against Montreal as well.

This is the third time in history that the Bruins and Leafs have met in a Game 7. It’s the first since 1959, which Toronto won at Boston.

The Maple Leafs have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series just once in their history. That came in 1942 when they came back from down 3-0 to beat the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.

All of these stats, however, mean absolutely nothing because what in the world does 1942 have to do with Game 7 of this series? Not a whole lot, obviously. But it’s fun to look at, I guess.

2 p.m.: The Bruins obviously aren’t doing much of anything before Game 7 given the quick turnaround between Games 6 and 7. Oh, that, and the fact that they woke up in Toronto.

The B’s got back to Boston just a few hours ago after spending the night in Toronto. The team plane had a malfunction, and they were stuck in Toronto until about 8 a.m. this morning. Here’s a pretty good account of the Bruins’ night, which featured a late-night meal. The owners of the restaurant the B’s dined at are on their way to Boston for Game 7 after the Boston organization hooked them up with tickets.

Bruins players are scheduled to be available to the media at 4:30 Monday afternoon, and head coach Claude Julien will meet with the media at 5:50 p.m.

8 a.m. ET: Just a few days ago, it seemed like the Bruins were a lock to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The B’s held a 3-1 lead in their series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and all seemed good for the Black and Gold.

However, as has been the case for much of the year, inconsistency caught up with the Bruins, and now they’re left to play a Game 7 with their season on the line. The Bruins (will eventually) return to Boston on Monday, and they’ll have the Leafs waiting for them in a winner-take-all, do-or-die showdown. The B’s will already be up against it, after malfunctions with the team’s airplane forced the Bruins to stay in Toronto on Sunday night. They were scheduled to fly into Boston on Monday morning, just hours ahead of what could be their final game of the season.

That’s not where the bad omens end, either. The Bruins and Leafs, of course, will be forced to play on consecutive nights. The B’s were just 3-5 on the back end of back-to-backs this season, and they were just 1-8-1 on the final game of stretches in which they played three games in four nights, which is what they’ll do Monday night.

However, the Bruins have been here before. This will be the eighth Game 7 that they’ve played under head coach Claude Julien. They enter Monday night with a 3-4 record in those games, with all three wins coming in the team’s 2011 Stanley Cup run. The Bruins were knocked out in the first round last season, when they lost to the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the first round.

Third period, 18:14, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins can’t do anything with the power play, and they still trail with a little more than a minute to go.

Third period, 16:12, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins’ power play, which cost them earlier in the game, will get a chance to redeem itself here.

Tyler Bozak just flipped the puck out of play in his own zone, which is, of course, delay of game. He’ll go to the box for two minutes in what is a huge power play for Boston.

Third period, 11:12, Maple Leafs 2-1: It was coming. You could feel it coming. Now, we have a hockey game again.

The Bruins have tilted the ice for much of the third period, and it finally paid off here midway through the third period. Zdeno Chara just beat James Reimer blocker side up under the crossbar to cut the lead in half.

Third period, 8:05, Maple Leafs 2-0: The latest missed opportunity comes when Rich Peverley’s shot is stopped by James Reimer, and while Chris Kelly was there for the rebound, he couldn’t do anything with it, as he just wasn’t able to get enough on it to get it by or over the goalie.

Third period, 6:30, Maple Leafs 2-0: The frustration is starting to set in for the Bruins, especially those on the Patrice Bergeron line. This time it was Bergeron throwing it ahead to Tyler Seguin, who couldn’t get enough of his stick on the puck, and another opportunity is foiled.

Seguin was visibly frustrated going back to the bench where, I believe, it was the bench door that was slammed shut.

Third period, 1:58, Maple Leafs 2-0: The Bruins are really up against it now.

Clarke MacArthur just turned Johnny Boychuk into a turnstile, and the Maple Leafs now have a 2-0 lead. MacArthur scored his second goal in as many games when he took the puck off the boards and around Tuukka Rask for the goal.

Third period, 0:01, Maple Leafs 1-0: The third period is underway with the Bruins looking to get something going.

Second period reaction: Again, the Maple Leafs continue to play what’s been a perfect road game. They’ve put pressure on the Bruins, and they’ve been physical. They look like a team that has its back up against the wall, and they finally broke through on the scoreboard in the second period.

That came on a pretty bad power-play gaffe from Andrew Ference at the Toronto blue line. Ference is on the second power-play unit for this one with Wade Redden out, and it cost the Bruins in the second. Ference couldn’t handle the puck at the top of the zone on the power play, and Tyler Bozak made him pay. Bozak stole the puck and beat Ference down the ice before scoring the game’s lone goal.

James Reimer has also been solid, another key component to winning on the road. As good as Rask has been, Reimer has been there to match him and maybe a little better. He was helped by a lack of action in the first period, but the B’s picked it up with 17 shots in the second, and Reimer stopped all of them. Just as importantly, he controlled rebounds, and that made all the difference. However, the key to success offensively may be to just keep getting pucks on net. Make Reimer beat you, as he hasn’t really stolen a game in this series yet.

End second period, Maple Leafs 1-0: The second period comes to an end, with the Bruins trailing by a goal.

The Bruins had a chance late in the second period when Jaromir Jagr walked the puck in from the sideboards, but he was robbed by James Reimer, who turned away the shot with a glove save of all things. Even better for the Leafs, he didn’t allow a rebound on the save.

There will be 47 seconds of 4-on-4 to start the third period. That’s because Zdeno Chara and Ryan O’Byre were given roughing minors following a post-whistle scrum in front of the Toronto net.

Second period, 14:27, Maple Leafs 1-0: Going back to the goal, it started with another great save from James Reimer. The Toronto goalie made a huge save from in close on Tyler Seguin, who just cannot buy a goal right now.

Second period, 11:27, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Maple Leafs are still very much alive.

Andrew Ference just turned it over at the blue line, and Tyler Bozak makes the Bruins pay. Bozak got by Ference, walked in on Rask and he beat the goalie five-hole to take the game’s first lead.

Second period, 10:03, 0-0: James Reimer just made his biggest save of the period, game and series. The Toronto goalie just robbed Patrice Bergeron on the doorstep with a crazy right toe save.

That eventually sprung James van Riemsdyk the other way, but Adam McQuaid ran him down to break up the potential scoring chance.

Seconds later, van Riemsdyk was whistled for a penalty. The UNH product gets two minutes for interference.

Second period, 6:01, 0-0: The second period looks much like the first did for the Bruins. They aren’t able to get much going in terms of breakouts right now, and the Leafs continue to put the pressure on.

It looks like Brad Marchand is going to try and get himself into the game the way he often does, which is by agitating. The pesky forward has already gotten into it with Joffrey Lupul and Cody Franson so far here in the second period. Whatever it takes to get him going, the Bruins must be thinking at this point, as long as he avoids taking a stupid penalty.

Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: That was a very, very good first period for a Maple Leafs team on the road facing elimination. The Leafs came out with plenty of jump, and they’re playing physical. They’re doing everything it takes to win on the road in the playoffs — while facing elimination as well — but they have nothing to show for it. That’s because of Tuukka Rask and Tuukka Rask only. The Bruins goalie has been phenomenal, and he picked up right where he left off in Toronto.

The Bruins may be able to count on Rask to stop everything he sees in this one, but that would be a risky proposition. The Bruins, although they won 12 of 15 faceoffs in the first period, are being outshot 19-8. The juxtaposition of those two numbers really backs up the thought that they’ve been really sloppy with the puck. They’ve been especially sloppy in their own zone and into the neutral zone, with Rask bailing them out a bunch of times already.

The Leafs are trying to get physical with David Krejci and his line. That was very evident on the last shift of the period where Carl Gunnarsson and Krejci got tied up near the Toronto net, and then Nikolai Kulemin took a run at Milan Lucic. Even with the rough stuff, Krejci and Lucic have been particularly good on that first line, and they’re not shying away from the contact one bit.

End first period, 0-0: The first period comes to an end in a scoreless tie. The B’s got a decent — yet physical — shift from the David Krejci line that didn’t really produce many chances. Yet it looked decent, so there’s that I guess.

First period, 14:35, 0-0: The Patrice Bergeron line is just having a rough go of it right now. Bergeron put what looked to be a perfect pass on the stick of a driving Tyler Seguin, but the forward couldn’t bury it, as his deflection at the net hit the post behind James Reimer.

The Bruins have won nine of 10 faceoffs, but they’re still being outshot 16-7. That tells you they’ve been far too sloppy with the puck. They’ll have to get that together, because as good as Tuukka Rask has been, it’s going to be tough to be this good all night long.

First period, 11:18, 0-0: This is not the start the Bruins envisioned.

We’re still scoreless midway through the first period, but that’s because of Tuukka Rask and nothing else. The Maple Leafs are taking advantage of some sloppy passing and puck movement from the Bruins, and they’re putting pucks on Rask in a big way. Toronto has already put 13 shots on goal, and Rask has stopped them all, which is the difference in this one so far.

First period, 7:16, 0-0: It’s the Tuukka Rask show again so far.

The Bruins goaltender just punctuated a flurry of saves with a flashy glove save on Clarke MacArthur. The Maple Leafs already have seven shots on goal, and they are starting to tilt the ice in a big way. So far, though, Rask has been outstanding.

First period, 5:18, 0-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the power play, but the Maple Leafs brought it. Zdeno Chara broke a play up in the zone late in the kill, and that allowed Patrice Bergeron to clear the puck as the penalty expired.

First period, 1:46, 0-0: The Maple Leafs will get the game’s first power play.

Chris Kelly was just called for tripping, and the Bruins will have to kill it off.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: It’s time for hockey. Game 5 is underway.

6:51 p.m.: The Bruins have done an awesome job with their honorary captains this postseason, and they’ll have another good one for Game 5.

After local bomb squads did the honor in Game 1, Boston Marathon victim Jeff Bauman held the honor. Tonight, the man who helped save Bauman’s life, Carlos Arredondo.

6:38 p.m: According to pregame line rushes, it looks like Matt Bartkowski will be in for the Bruins in place of Wade Redden. Bartkowski was paired with Adam McQuaid for line rushes. It would be the first career playoff game for the rookie defenseman.

Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg were paired together, as were Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference. No changes there.

6:32 p.m.: The two teams just took the ice for pregame warmups. Both Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski are out there for the Bruins.

6:10 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to TD Garden. I had what I thought was a very insightful post on Brad Marchand that I thought I had posted a little earlier in the day, but apparently I never hit “publish.” That’s pretty key in this business.

So now I’ll do my best to replicate that post.

The short of it is that Marchand has been just as quiet as Tyler Seguin in this series. Marchand does have two points to Seguin’s zero, but it’s not like he’s set the world on fire. Seguin has taken the majority of the flak for that line’s lack of production, and that’s to be expected given his connection to the Maple Leafs. However, it’s worth noting that Marchand has just one goal and three assists in his last 11 playoff games — last year and this year. Marchand has also been scuffling down the stretch at least in terms of finding the back of the net. He’s scored just two goals since April 20, and one of those was an empty-netter. That’s a long ways from his 13 goals in 19 games to open the season, but that’s obviously an absurd pace.

Marchand said himself during that stretch that it wasn’t going to last, and he said that these things are obviously cyclical. They certainly are, and Marchand has hit a goal-scoring valley. The good news for the Bruins, of course, is that they’re one win away from advancing despite the relative lack of production from that line. I don’t expect them to be held down too long, and maybe this is the night they break out. If this team is going to make a long postseason run, they’re going to need Marchand, Seguin and Patrice Bergeron all contributing a little more on the offensive end.

12:10 p.m.: Claude Julien made it official when meeting with the media following the team’s morning skate: Wade Redden is out for Game 5 against Toronto.

Julien wouldn’t reveal the reason Redden is out, but the head coach said Redden is day-to-day. Julien also wouldn’t reveal who will play for the Bruins in Redden’s place. The two obvious choices are Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski. The latter was called up Thursday and joined the team for morning skate. Bartkowski was skating with Adam McQuaid during the skate, but Julien didn’t confirm anything after the skate. The head coach said that he’ll make the decision later in the day and that it will have to do with matchups.

“Well, we’ve got two [options],” Julien said. “Obviously, Dougie and Bart. One’s a right shot and one’s a left shot and we have to decide what we want to do with our pairings here. Once we decide that we’ll know who to put in. They’ve both been kind of told that, ‘We’ll let you know.’ It’s one of those two guys.”

It sure looks like it’s going to be Bartkowski, but you can never be sure about all of that at this time of year. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Bruins didn’t change their forward lines at morning skate. In case you need a refresher, here are the forward lines.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

10:52 a.m.: The B’s may switch things up on defense, as Matt Bartkowski was recalled and skating with Adam McQuaid at morning skate. Wade Redden appears to be the odd man out. -JB

8 a.m.: The Bruins survived overtime in one of the best games we’ve seen in a long time in Game 4 in Toronto, and they’ll get their first chance to close out the series Friday.

The B’s and Maple Leafs return to TD Garden in Boston on Friday night for Game 5 with Boston holding a 3-1 series lead and looking to end their first-round series. The Bruins, when holding a 3-1 series lead, are just 9-8 in Game 5 in their history, but they’ve eventually won 15 of the 17 games they’ve held a 3-1 series lead. The Leafs, meanwhile, are just 4-10 in Game 5 situations where they’re done 3-1 and just 1-13 in those series’ overall.

Boston is in position to win the series after a thrilling 4-3 win in overtime in Game 4 on Wednesday. David Krejci continued his excellent play in the playoffs, capping a hat trick with the game-winning goal in the first overtime period. Krejci took the league lead in playoff points with that performance, and he now has five goals and five assists in just the four games.

If Krejci has been the Bruins’ No. 1 star through four games, then Tuukka Rask is at least No. 2, maybe No. 1A. The goaltender has been simply fantastic, and he took his game to a new level in Toronto. Rask set a career-high with 45 saves — a number he totaled in both games — and he kept the game alive long enough for Krejci to score the OT winner in Game 4. If he continues to play like he did in Toronto, summer won’t be far away for the Leafs.

However, Toronto has shown quite a bit in this series. After looking overmatched and outclassed in Game 1, the Leafs bounced back with a win in Game 2 before giving Boston all it could handle in Games 3 and 4.

But their backs are up against the walls, which will make a quick start in Game 5 even more important for the Bruins. If they can come out flying and take the Leafs out of the game early, there’s always the chance Toronto packs it in and the B’s cruise to a win. The good news for them is that they’ll have Nathan Horton in the lineup. Horton took a big hit from Dion Phaneuf in order to move the puck leading up to Krejci’s goal, and the Bruins forward went down hard. He told reporters Thursday that he’s feeling fine, which is good news for the Bruins, of course, with the line of Krejci, Horton and Milan Lucic playing the best it has all year.

On the other side, the Leafs will have to make some changes on the blue line. Defenseman Mark Fraser is out after taking a puck to the head off the stick of Lucic in Game 4. Toronto coach Randy Carlyle revealed Thursday that Fraser suffered a cranial fracture. Fraser said John-Michael Liles will be reinserted into the lineup in Fraser’s place. Liles played in Game 1, but he’s been a healthy scratch in the games since.

Puck drop from the Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Overtime, 13:23, 3-3: Tuukka Rask has been sensational in overtime.

Phil Kessel was the latest to test him, and Rask made the save before smothering the rebound chance.

Overtime, 11:17, 3-3: We’re 11 minutes in, and we already have 16 combined shots on goal. No goals yet.

Overtime, 7:53, 3-3: The Leafs are bringing it in a big way. Tuukka Rask has been up to the challenge so far. He just made a huge glove save on Joffrey Lupul.

Overtime, 6:20, 3-3: Matt Frattin just got loose in the Boston zone, but he hit the post.

Overtime, 5:04, 3-3: The Bruins and Leafs have traded multiple chances already.

Tuukka Rask had to make a big save on Nazem Kadri which preceded a James Reimer save on Patrice Bergeron. Wild pace right now.

Overitme, 1:00, 3-3: Overtime has begun.

Third period reaction: This has been a fantastic hockey game, and since there’s probably going to be some weird goal that just erases any sort of analysis, we’ll just leave it at that for now.

As for game-winner picks, I’m gonna take Patrice Bergeron. Feel free to leave your picks for who’s gonna score the winner in the comments.

End third period, 3-3: We are going to overtime.

The Bruins had a couple of chances late, but they couldn’t put them home.

The first came when Milan Lucic chased down the puck behind the Toronto goal. He and James Reimer got tied up, and Reimer ended up batting the puck out of air. It went to David Krejci who came barreling down the left wing. The forward tried to lift it over a diving Reimer, but the goalie got just enough of it.

In the final seconds, Tyler Seguin had a chance of his own, but he missed the net by a few inches as regulation ended.

Third period, 16:35, 3-3: And that’s what you call a huge penalty kill for the Bruins.

The B’s were able to kill off the Zdeno Chara penalty, and they’re back to even strength with just a few minutes to play in regulation.  

Third period, 13:27, 3-3: The Bruins are up against it now.

Zdeno Chara was just called for high-sticking, and he’s going to the box for two minutes. This is a huge kill and the B’s are without one of their best killers.

Third period, 10:21, 3-3: This game is just so good.

Chris Kelly has returned to the Bruins’ lineup and to the ice after taking the Nazem Kadri high stick that left the Boston center bloodied.

Third period, 7:49, 3-3: Scary moment here in the third period. Mark Fraser just took a Milan Lucic shot in the face, and it may have saved a goal. Lucic appeared to have an open net as James Reimer was laying on the ground, but Lucic’s shot hit Fraser in the head.

Nathan Horton had a fantastic scoring chance a few seconds earlier, but he missed the shot high and wide.

Third period, 6:18, 3-3: The Leafs have gotten a jump out of the penalty kill, and luckily for the Bruins, they have Tuukka Rask.

Rask just stoned Joffrey Lupul right in the middle of the slot, as Lupul got loose and controlled the puck before putting one on Rask.

Third period, 5:00, 3-3: The Maple Leafs dodge a bullet and the Bruins miss out on a big-time opportunity.

The Leafs kill off the double-minor, and the Air Canada Centre is rocking again. The Bruins looked to be getting a little too cute on that man-advantage.

Third period, 19:02, 3-3: The Maple Leafs’ power play comes to a premature end.

Nazem Kadri got lazy with his stick as Chris Kelly blew by him, and Kadri gets the high-sticking penalty. It drew blood, so the B’s will get an extended 3:38 of power-play time.

Third period, 0:01, 3-3: The third period has begun, with the Bruins trying to kill off a minute of Gregory Campbell’s penalty.

Second period reaction: The biggest reaction from the second period is to just take a little break. That was exhausting.

The Bruins have done an excellent job of getting back in this game. Unsurprisingly, the B’s got their first two goals by going to the net and taking advantage of rebounds. Both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci did just that and they were rewarded with goals. The Bruins’ go-ahead goal was another power-play tally for Krejci after a brilliant pass from Nathan Horton across the slot. It’s obviously good to see that unit clicking as well.

The Leafs deserve credit, too. They could have been shell-shocked by losing the lead and then falling behind in the period, but they bounced right back. Randy Carlyle looks like a genius inserting Clarke MacArthur back into the lineup, as the forward rewarded the move with a goal to tie the game 44 seconds after the B’s took the lead.

End second period, 3-3: The Bruins survive the second period, but they’re not out of the woods.

Patrice Bergeron stepped in front of a Dion Phaneuf shot from the point, and that ends the period as the puck deflected out of the zone off of Bergeron.

Second period, 19:19, 3-3: Things go from bad to worse for the Bruins. The Leafs get a 5-on-3 for 52 seconds after Gregory Campbell slashed James van Riemsdyk’s stick in half.

Second period, 18:12, 3-3: Now the Maple Leafs get a gift power play.

David Krejci, yes David Krejci, is called for roughing after getting into it with James van Riemsdyk after the whistle.

Second period, 17:23, 3-3: And the Leafs have tied it up.

A shot goes wide, and the carom goes straight into the slot where Clarke MacArthur — reinserted into the lineup for Game 4 — jumped on it. MacArthur beats Tuukka Rask five-hole, and the puck trickles through.

Second period, 16:39, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins have their first lead of the hockey game.

David Krejci and the Bruins take advantage of Colton Orr’s bad penalty, and the B’s have the lead. Krejci blasted a one-timer from Nathan Horton by James Reimer, and the B’s have the lead.

Second period, 15:41, 2-2: Colton Orr takes a stupid penalty, and the Bruins get a power play.

It’s two minutes for “being stupid” — just kidding, it was high-sticking. The B’s get another power play.

Second period, 14:34, 2-2: The Bruins’ second goal is now being credited to David Krejci.

Second period, 12:59, 2-2: It’s a whole new hockey game.

The Bruins have worked back to tie the game here midway through the third period.

Brad Marchand worked through some contact in the slot before he was able to put the puck on net. James Reimer made the original stop, but David Krejci crashes the net and crashes into Mikhail Grabovksi, pushing the puck over the line.

The goal is Marchand’s for now.

Second period, 11:00, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins were able to kill the penalty with one of their best kills of the postseason.

The Bruins’ PK has been dicey — they had only killed eight of 12 Toronto power plays through three games — so it’s good to see them get back on the right track there. They were much better and much more efficient in clearing the puck quickly and not allowing much of anything for the Leafs.

Second period, 8:57, Maple Leafs 2-1: Now it’s the Bruins’ turn to kill a penalty.

Gregory Campbell was just called for hooking, and the B’s will try to kill that off.

Johnny Boychuk has returned to play after leaving with an apparent injury a few minutes ago.

Second period, 6:17, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins weren’t really able to sustain much momentum after the Patrice Bergeron goal, and the Maple Leafs have tilted the ice against Boston.

The Mikhail Grabovski line just had a couple of brilliant shifts, and they’ve got the Bruins back on their heels. The Leafs were especially aggressive once they realized Boston defenseman Johnny Boychuk was hurt. The blue liner just went to the dressing room after struggling to get off the ice with what looked to be some sort of a leg, foot or ankle injury.

Second period, 0:33, Maple Leafs 2-1: Finally, the Bruins take advantage of the rebounds.

Patrice Bergeron just jumped all over a rebound from a Zdeno Chara shot, and Bergeron beats James Reimer with a wrist shot from the slot to get the B’s within one.

Second period, 0:10, Maple Leafs 2-0: The second period is underway, and the Bruins have about a minute of power play to go.

Second period reaction: I honestly didn’t think that was that bad of a period for the Bruins, despite what the scoreboard may say. However, there’s usually at least one “everything is going wrong” game for teams in a series, and maybe this is that game for the B’s.

They haven’t gotten a good bounce in front of the net yet, but James Reimer is giving them plenty of chances. The B’s put 15 shots on goal in the first period, and Reimer seemed to give them rebounds on at least half of them. The Bruins just aren’t getting to those rebounds either by not being able to get to the net or because the Leafs have done a better job of clearing the area in front of Reimer.

At the other end, Tuukka Rask is probably the reason the Bruins aren’t chasing four after one, but at the same time, he gave up goals on shots he probably would have gotten to in Game 3. In Rask’s defense, however, he looked to be screened by Zdeno Chara on the second goal. It’s tough to stop what you don’t see.

The Leafs’ lobbying for fairer faceoff practices is paying off through one period. Toronto dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 14 of 22 draws in the first period. Patrice Bergeron is just 1-for-5.

End first period, Maple Leafs 2-0: The Bruins end the period on a power play after Leo Komarov was called for charging late in the period.

Milan Lucic was felled by a Zdeno Chara shot that looked to cut the Bruins’ power forward.

First period, 18:32, Maple Leafs 2-0: The Maple Leafs, despite being outplayed for the last five minutes or so, now have a 2-0 lead.

This time it’s Cody Franson who lights the lamp. The Leafs got help when a rebound hit the referee behind the net and went straight to Joffrey Lupul. Lupul passed it across the slot to the right point for Cody Franson, and Franson threw it at net. The shot beat Tuukka Rask who may or may not have been screened by Zdeno Chara.

First period, 15:31, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Bruins couldn’t get anything on the power play in terms of goals, but it was a very good-looking power play. They got three shots with the man-advantage and came close to scoring just after the man-advantage expired, but a shot either hit the post or was stopped by James Reimer. It was tough to tell.

Either way, the Bruins need to use that momentum in the final few minutes of this period to get something going.

First period, 12:43, Maple Leafs 1-0: Boston will get the first power play of the night.

Dion Phaneuf was just called for tripping Tyler Seguin, and the call was questionable at best. Nonetheless, the B’s get the man-advantage.

First period, 10:34, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Bruins and Maple Leafs are starting to get into some run-and-gun hockey. While it might be exciting to watch, it’s probably driving Claude Julien bonkers.

Tuukka Rask has already been put in position to make a handful of difficult saves, especially in the four minutes since the last TV timeout.

The Bruins continue pepper James Reimer, though. The rebounds are still there, as Reimer just gave up another second chance after attempting to glove the puck, something he’s done a bunch of times. If the Bruins continue to go to the net, they’ll have their chances.

First period, 6:15, Maple Leafs 1-0: While the Leafs have the early lead, it hasn’t been a horrible start for the Bruins; they have certainly had their chances.

The best of the game so far came when Daniel Paille put a shot on James Reiemer who made the initial kick save. As he has all series, Reimer struggled with the rebound, and that gave Gregory Campbell a second chance. Reimer stopped that one as well.

The Bruins have outshot Toronto 5-1, but unfortunately for the Bruins, that one Leafs shot found the back of the net.

First period, 2:35, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Air Canada Centre is rocking, and it looks like the Bruins are in for a tough one.

Joffrey Lupul just scored the game’s first goal after a gorgeous pass from Phil Kessel. Kessel skated behind the net before whipping a pass to the front of the net for Lupul who banged home the one-timer.

First period, 0:24, 0-0: The game is underway.

7:04 p.m.: Naturally, there’s a lineup change for the Maple Leafs.

It looks like Clarke MacArthur will indeed be in, which means that Ryan Hamilton is out. It’s unclear at this point whether or not this is just a straight change.

6:38 p.m.: The Leafs lineup, per pregame skate, is the same as it was for Game 3. However, Clarke MacArthur is on the ice for the first time since playing in Game 1. That could possibly mean that MacArthur is back in.

Regardless, here are the lines per warmups.

Joffrey Lupul — Tyler Bozak — Matt Fratin
Mikhail Grabovski — Nikolai Kulemin — James van Riemsdyk
Ryan Hamilton — Nazem Kadri — Phil Kessel
Jay McClement — Leo Komarov – Colton Orr

6:30 p.m.: Pregame warmups have begun in Toronto for Game 4. It will be Tuukka Rask versus James Reimer. Of course.

5:45 p.m.: As we kind of touched on a little earlier in the day, Game 4 would be a good time for Patrice Bergeron’s line to break out. We spoke earlier in the season about how the Bergeron line really is the top line — although the David Krejci line technically holds that distinction — and it’s time they started proving that again.

The Bergeron line, also as mentioned earlier, is in a bit of a rut in this series. They’ve combined for one point — a Brad Marchand assist — and that’s been it so far. Tyler Seguin has had some chances so far, but he hasn’t been able to bury them yet. The best chance probably came in Game 3 when he picked up a lose puck in the slot and tried to beat James Reimer with a backhand,but the Toronto goalie made the stop.

“The line that hasn’t [hasn't been scoring] has been the Bergeron line,” head coach Claude Julien said after morning skate. “We saw [Seguin] hit the cross bar in the first game. They’ve had some chances but they haven’t capitalized. No doubt they can be a little better and we’re counting on them.”

Luckily for the Bruins, the other lines have picked up the slack. Included in that is the third line, which came along in Game 3, thanks in large part to the play of Jaromir Jagr. The Bruins would certainly like a similar performance out of the Bergeron line in Game 4.

2:50 p.m.: The big hubbub entering Game 4 is going to center around the two men that go unnoticed for much of just about every game — the linesmen.

However, given the way that this series and Game 3 in particular have played out in the faceoff dots, it’s certainly going to be a focal point. That’s because the Maple Leafs are looking to make it a focal point. The Leafs were beaten badly in the dot in Game 3, and they immediately took to lobbying for better enforcement of the rules in Game 4 and moving forward.

“When you’re at home, you think you would be afforded some of the staples of the opposition having to be down first and stop,” Carlyle told reporters Tuesday. “In our review, there were some things going on out there that we don’t agree with, as far as forcing the opposition to stop.

“When I talked to the official between periods, he stated that it was supposed to be visitor down, home down, puck down. That clearly was not happening as per video. So we’ll visit with them and talk about it.”

Carlyle wasn’t alone, either. Toronto center Tyler Bozak asserted the Bruins “cheating a little better” in the faceoff circle in Game 3 as well.

Naturally, Bruins head coach Claude Julien was asked about faceoffs on Tuesday as well, and he had a bit of a zinger for Carlyle and the Leafs.

“I looked at the video, too,” Julien said. “It is what it is. Guys getting kicked out, guys not getting kicked out.When you lobby for something, it’s because you’re looking for a break next game. That’s what Randy’s doing right now, he’s lobbying for some breaks on faceoffs. It will be interesting to see if the referees and linesmen just do their job next game and not worry about who’s crying wolf.”

Toronto, as the home team, should technically speaking have the advantage when the puck is dropped. The visiting team’s center is supposed to be stopped and have his stick on the ice before the home team centerman. That’s where the stick down, puck down comment of Carlyle’s comes from.

Julien spoke about draws again Wednesday after morning skate.

“It always has been [a big part of our game],” he said. “Every  morning skate what you see is a routine we have with our centermen and taking draws every gameday morning. Even practice, after practice, we’ll grab some of centermen and it’s an important part of our game. It’s a strength for us, and it’s a strength that we hope pays off for us. It shouldn’t be viewed as a disadvantage. It should be viewed as a strength.”

The Bruins have dominated in the faceoff circle during the series, as they have for much of the year as the NHL’s top team when it comes to draws. The B’s have won 119 of the series’ 205 faceoffs in the series.

2:35 p.m.: In case you missed it, the Vezina Trophy finalists were announced a little earlier in the day, and Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask will not be one of those up for the award.

Claude Julien was asked about that following morning skate, and he had a pretty good reaction. The head coach said he didn’t think Rask would “loose any sleep” over the snub and that Rask is more focused on what the team is doing in the playoffs right now.

“That’s more valuable than a little individual trophy voted on by people,” Julien said. “You aim for the big trophy, which is more important than the individual one. That’s what we’re gonna try to do.”

1:15 p.m.: Morning skates have wrapped up in Toronto, and in the Bruins’ case, there doesn’t look to be any differences. There were no lineup changes for the B’s at morning skate in Toronto, which one would think indicates there will be no lineup changes. That could always change, of course, but here are the B’s lines from Game 3, in case you weren’t paying attention.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Tyler Seguin — Patrice Bergeron — Brad Marchand
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference — Adam McQuaid
Wade Redden — Johnny Boychuk

8 a.m. ET: The Bruins know they can win a playoff game in Toronto. If they prove that once again on Wednesday night, there’s a good chance they will be moving on to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The B’s will take on the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night in Game 4 of their best-of-seven first-round series. With a convincing 5-2 win in Game 3, the Bruins carry a 2-1 series lead into the Air Canada Centre with a chance to all but lock up the series.

They’ll do just that if they turn in an effort similar to that shown in Monday’s Game 3. The Bruins got balanced scoring and even play from their four lines, and they did a good job of neutralizing a crazy crowd taking in the first home playoff game in Toronto since 2004. Boston got a big effort — perhaps the biggest of his career — out of goalie Tuukka Rask. The Boston netminder stood on his head and kept the B’s in the game early, which eventually allowed the B’s to victimize James Reimer at the other end.

The Bruins also got a breakout performance from Jaromir Jagr and the third line. Jagr, along with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, started to show some cohesion for just about the first time since Jagr was acquired. That, of course, only helped Claude Julien fully utilize his entire lineup. However, if you’re looking for a line to be jump-started, at least on the statsheet, it has to be the Patrice Bergeron line. Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand have combined for just one point in this series. If they get going, this series is over.

A pivotal Game 4 gets started at 7 p.m. in Toronto.

Third period, 18:43, Bruins 5-2: The Bruins save their best for last.

A couple of great shifts answer the growing momentum the Leafs had built, and eventually, it’s David Krejci who scores the empty-net goal.

This one is over.

Third period, 15:11, Bruins 4-2: The Bruins are just trying to survive the third period at this point.

Tuukka Rask is standing on his head, as the B’s are no doubt counting down the minutes and seconds until this one is over.

Third period, 9:58, Bruins 4-2: We’re going to play some 4-on-4 hockey after things get a little chippy in front of the benches.

James van Riemsdyk gets his nose dirty (again), and then that leads to Brad Marchand and Phil Kessel getting into it. They get the penalties, as they’re sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Third period, 8:42, Bruins 4-2: The third period has been played at a pretty furious pace, and we just went three or four minutes without a stoppage.

The Maple Leafs, to their credit, have been very good in the third period. They came out with a good jump, and that only intensified with Phil Kessel’s goal.

Now it’s on the Bruins to weather the storm. They can’t get too passive, though, and they must continue to come at Toronto. If they do, the two-goal lead should be enough, despite how much better the Leafs are playing.

Third period, 0:47, Bruins 4-2: The Bruins have done a good job of clearing rebounds all game long, until now.

Dennis Seidenberg wasn’t able to clear the rebound from a James van Riemsdyk shot, and Phil Kessel jumps all over it. Kessel buries the rebound to make things a little more interesting.

Third period, 0:10, Bruins 4-1: The third period is underway, with the Bruins looking to kill off Milan Lucic’s penalty.

Second period reaction: That’s another great period for the Bruins, who look much more like the B’s we saw in Game 1 than in Game 2.

Then again, so do the Maple Leafs. Toronto has been incredibly sloppy with the puck, and the breakouts and play in their own zone remain the issue. Both Jake Gardiner and Ryan O’Byrne had some major issues with the puck behind the goal line, and that was made worse by Jaromir Jagr. The Boston forward was able to steal the puck after the Toronto D-men fumbled around with it. Jagr was able to feed Rich Peverley who buried his chance. Then it was Phil Kessel who coughed it up later in the period, which led to Daniel Paille’s shorthanded goal.

End second period, Bruins 4-1: The second period is over, and the Bruins are in the driver’s seat with the three-goal lead.

Second period, 19:27, Bruins 4-1: There goes the Boston power play.

Milan Lucic was called for hooking, and the power play ends.

Second period, 18:04, Bruins 4-1: Now the Bruins can really put it away.

Nazem Kadri was called for boarding Dennis Seidenberg, and the Bruins go on the power play with hopes of increasing the lead to four before the period ends.

Second period, 16:37, Bruins 4-1: Phil Kessel just made a bad turnover, and Daniel Paille made him pay in the worst way.

Kessel turned it over at his own blue line on the power play, and Daniel Paille said “Thanks, Phil,” before scoring a shorthanded goal.

Boston has the 4-1 lead now.

Second period, 15:24, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins just got sloppy with a line change, and it costs them in the form of a penalty.

The Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice, and that means another power play for Toronto. Tyler Seguin will serve the penalty.

Second period, 14:35, Bruins 3-1: Just 50 seconds later, the Bruins respond.

Milan Lucic does a masterful job of setting up Nathan Horton, who just buried a shot under the crossbar to push the lead back to two.

 Second period, 13:45, Bruins 2-1: The first home postseason goal for the Maple Leafs since 2004 belongs to Jake Gardiner.

The young defenseman got the first Toronto goal of the game, a power-play tally, after Chris Kelly was unable to clear the puck. Gardiner beat Tuukka Rask with a wrist shot, thanks to a ton of bodies in front of the net.

Second period, 11:52, Bruins 2-0: It’s another power play for the Maple Leafs.

Tyler Seguin was just called for tripping, and Toronto has the man-advantage again.

Second period, 10:12, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins were not able to score on their shortened power play.

They’re starting to pick up the physical play at the other end, too. Just ask Joffrey Lupul, who was railroaded by Milan Lucic.

At some point, James Reimer’s inability to glove shots will come back to hurt the Leafs. He’s been giving up a ton of second chances on pucks he tries to gloves. He’s simply not catching them. It hasn’t caught up to him yet, but it will.

Second period, 7:45, Bruins 2-0: The Toronto power play ended just as quickly as it began.

Just 46 seconds into the man-advantage, Daniel Paille got loose for a potential breakaway, but he was eventually hooked by Tyler Bozak, who gets called for hooking. We’ll have 1:14 of 4-on-4 before an abbreviated Bruins power play.

Second period, 7:04, Bruins 2-0: The Maple Leafs have a chance to get back into it here.

David Krejci was just called for slashing, which means the Leafs are going on their second power play.

Second period, 5:57, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins didn’t get anything on the power play, but a couple of minutes later, the B’s get on the board.

Jaromir Jagr just did a tremendous job of forechecking, and that led to a horrible turnover from Ryan O’Byrne behind the Toronto net.

Jagr was quick to take advantage of that, stealing the puck away and centering it to Rich Peverley in front. Peverley one-timed it by James Reimer to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

Second period, 2:17, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins have done a good job of controlling the puck here in the second, and it pays off with a power play.

Ryan O’Byrne gets the interference call, and the Bruins have their first man-advantage of Game 3.

Second period, 0:20, Bruins 1-0: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: That was, all things considered, a real good first period for the Bruins.

The crowd was, as expected, pretty wild in the early going. The Bruins did a great job of weathering that to open the game and not let things get away from them. A lot of that stems from Tuukka Rask making a couple of big saves early in the period to keep Toronto off the board, which also allowed the B’s to eventually get going offensively. The transition has been much better in this one, and the Bruins are working the three zones much more efficiently in this game than in Game 2.

The Bruins have done another great job in the face-off circle. They won 10 of the 18 first-period draws, including one big one midway through the period. David Krejci’s clean win got the puck back to the point, where Adam McQuaid was able to put a shot on goal from the point, a shot that got by James Reimer sneaking in over his right shoulder.

We’d be remiss not to give any credit to the Boston third line. While they haven’t found the back of the net yet, they were much better in the first period than they were at any other point during Games 1 and 2. Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly are a combined 9-f0r-10 in the face-off dot, and Jaromir Jagr has been arguably the best player on the ice.

End first period, Bruins 1-0: The first period comes to an end, as the Bruins were able to kill off the penalty. Jaromir Jagr stepped out of the penalty box and went straight to work in the Toronto zone getting a couple of scoring chances for the B’s in the final second.

We’ll break it all down in a bit.

First period, 17:42, Bruins 1-0: It took almost 18 minutes, but we have our first penalty.

Jaromir Jagr is called for tripping, and the Bruins now have a huge penalty kill to make in order to take momentum to the room.

First period, 13:42, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins strike first.

Adam McQuaid just scored his first career playoff goal, and the Bruins have the early lead. David Krejci won a faceoff back to McQuaid at the right point, and the defenseman just put on net. There was plenty of traffic, and James Reimer might not have even seen the puck. It beat him over the right shoulder, and the B’s take the early lead.

 First period, 10:07, 0-0: The Bruins just got the best chance of the game so far, thanks to James Reimer. The Bruins couldn’t convert the best chance of the game so far, thanks to James Reimer.

The goalie tried to glove a shot from Brad Marchand, but couldn’t hold it, and the puck bounced toward the slot. Tyler Seguin pounced on it in the slot and forehand to backhand but was denied by Reimer from in close.

That has seem to given the Bruins a jump, though, after the Leafs brought it pretty strong for a few minutes after the first TV timeout.

First period, 6:11, 0-0: This game has featured a good pace in the early minutes, and it’s starting to get a little chippy, with Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara pushing and shoving with Colton Orr and company before the TV timeout.

The Bruins’ third line has been their best line in the early going, and that’s huge for the B’s. We talked earlier about how Jaromir Jagr and that line as a whole need to be better, and so far, they’ve answered the call there. Jagr had a chance from a bad angle to James Reimer’s left, but the Bruins winger couldn’t put it away.

First period, 0:08, 0-0: Game 3 is underway.

6:40 p.m.: And here are the Bruins’ line combinations and defensive pairings straight from the team’s Twitter page. There’s no change in the forward lines, and Andrew Ference returns in place of Dougie Hamilton on the blue line.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference — Johnny Boychuk
Wade Redden — Adam McQuaid

6:37 p.m.: Here are the Maple Leafs’ line combinations, via James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail.

Joffrey Lupul– Tyler Bozak — Matt Frattin
Ryan Hamilton — Nazem Kadri — Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk  – Mikhail Grabovski – Nikolai Kulemin
Colton Orr — Jay McClement — Leo Komarov

6:30 p.m.: The two teams have taken the ice in Toronto for pregame warmups. We’ll have line combinations shortly.

6:15 p.m.: With everything that’s gone in the league since Saturday night’s game, it sure seems like it’s been forever since the Bruins and Maple Leafs last played.

You can get caught up with everything that’s going on around the league by checking out nesn.com/NHL.

3:05 p.m.: It’s tough to argue that the Jaromir Jagr trade was anything but beneficial for the Bruins, after the future Hall of Famer made his impact felt in coming to Boston.

However, the early production from Jagr has seemed to plateau a little bit down the stretch, and that’s carried into the playoffs. Jagr has yet to register a point in the series, is a minus-2 and has looked very sluggish at times. However, Bruins coach Claude Julien isn’t too afraid that Jagr won’t be able to bounce back.

“I think there are a lot of things that come into play here,” Julien explained after practice Sunday. “No. 1, he came, as you know, at the trade deadline, he missed the last couple of games, he’s never had the same linemates. To his defense, it’s important to have some cohesion with your linemates and stuff like that.”

Jagr has also been battling a pretty nasty case of the flu (or flu-like symptoms) as of late, and Julien says Jagr still isn’t back to full health; that could be playing a role in Jagr’s lack of production.

“It’s a little bit of, I don’t think he’s 100 percent yet, and I know he’s told us he doesn’t feel 100 percent yet, but certainly we hope to see that because he’s a good player.”

It would be a huge boost for the Bruins to get Jagr going. The third line that he skates on has yet to really give the Bruins anything, while the other three lines have been pretty solid through two games. If they can something (anything) out of the third line, it should be a big help. That will likely start with Jagr performing better, though.

2:15 p.m.: We’ve already talked about how crazy it’s going to be up in Toronto for Game 3, and so far, we’ve seen plenty that says the city of Toronto is ready to go.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford proclaimed Monday as “Blue and White Day,” calling on Torontonians to wear the colors of the Leafs.

A story in Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail outlined the craziness going on in the city right now. According to the article, “poor seats” for Monday’s game are getting $300 on the secondardy market. You can read the entire story by clicking here.

12:50 p.m.: The Bruins and Maple Leafs have both wrapped up their respective morning skates, and we really don’t know much about what either team will do lineup-wise in Game 3.

The Bruins held an optional skate this morning, which was well-attended. Only Nathan Horton and Tuukka Rask opted not to skate in advance of Game 3 at Air Canada Centre.

Meanwhile, Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle said that he wasn’t going to reveal any details in regards to his lineup before the game begins. You would think, however, that there wouldn’t be too much change for Carlyle and the Leafs with the way they played in Game 2.

8 a.m. ET: They’ve been waiting for this in Toronto for almost an entire decade, and the Bruins will get to see firsthand what playoff hockey up there really means.

The B’s and Maple Leafs will meet Monday night in Game 3 of their first-round series in the Eastern Conference playoffs series. It will be When the puck drops at Air Canada Centre, it will mark the first playoff game in Toronto since 2004.

The home crowd will have plenty to cheer for, too. The hometown Leafs are coming home after evening the series with an impressive Game 2 victory, bouncing back from being torn apart in Game 1. The crowd was expected to be nuts even before Game 2, and now that the Maple Leafs are coming home with a win to their credit, the B’s have to be expecting a very hostile environment at the ACC.

“They have good crowds during the regular season and you expect to get ramped up during the playoffs,” Milan Lucic told reporters after practice Sunday in Boston. “They’re the center of the hockey world, so there’s definitely a lot to look forward to going into Toronto for Game 3 and 4.”

For the Bruins, it will be about getting back to what made them so successful in a decisive Game 1 win. Boston was sharp in the series opener at both ends of the ice, and they certainly took a step backward in the second game. Bruins coach Claude Julien knows that his team must be much better in Game 3 if they’re going to regain the series lead.

“I thought, overall, our game certainly wasn’t as sharp as it was in Game 1,” Julien said Sunday. “I think the mental part of our game, and again, you’ve heard me say that often, just has to be a little sharper in decision making. It was a physical game and I’m not going to criticize the effort, but the mistakes are what I think were the biggest difference, and they played well. We keep saying the same thing over and over; give them credit, they were a different team, they played well and we knew they were going to play better. We didn’t bring our A-game in [Game 2].”

Julien and the Bruins will get a little reinforcement for Game 3. Veteran defenseman Andrew Ference, who has 107 playoff games to his name, will be eligible to return to the lineup. He missed Game 2 after being suspended for an elbow in the series opener. His return should stabilize the defense pairs for the Bruins after they had to split up the top pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. That should help Julien in his ongoing chess match with Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle, with the latter looking to avoid the potential top pairing of Chara and Seidenberg when putting his top lines out on the ice. The Leafs did a masterful job of that in Game 2, and that was one of the difference-makers.

Game 3 in Toronto is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Final, Maple Leafs 4-2: The Maple Leafs took big strides in this one, and in winning their first playoff game since 2004, they have tied up the series as it shifts back to Toronto.

Third period, 16:57, Maple Leafs 4-2: The Maple Leafs look like they’ll be heading home tied in the series.

James van Riemsdyk continues to be a thorn in the side of the Bruins, and he has them up by two goals again. The UNH product just scored a nifty little goal after a nifty little play and pass from Mikhail Grabovski and Toronto leads by two.

Third period, 14:29, Maple Leafs 3-2: The Bruins aren’t done, and they have gotten a huge jump from the Johnny Boychuk.

The B’s are peppering James Reimer here in the third period, and he’s trying to help them tie the game apparently. The Toronto goalie has been bad at controlling his rebounds since the goal, ad if the Bruins get to the net, they’re going to have chances (and second chances).

Third period, 10:35, Maple Leafs 3-2: It’s not over yet.

Johnny Boychuk scored a goal from the right point, on a shot that looked to be tipped, but the defenseman is getting credit for the goal for now at least.

Either way, the B’s are right back in this game.

Third period, 10:01, Maple Leafs 3-1: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty, but they may have missed an opportunity to get back in the game.

Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell were able to get a 2-on-1 toward the end of the kill, but Paille got a little too cute with the puck and when he attempted to pass the puck across the slot, the play was broken up.

Third period, 6:21, Maple Leafs 3-1: The Maple Leafs are getting another power play, and the Bruins will once again be without a valuable penalty killer.

Zdeno Chara is now in the penalty box, where he’ll serve two minutes for interference after knocking down Nazem Kadri in the Boston end. Not a good penalty at all.

Third period, 0:53, Maple Leafs 3-1: Phil Kessel just silenced the Garden crowd — those not wearing Maple Leafs jerseys at least.

Kessel burst out of the Toronto zone like a rocket lifting off and he was hit with a gorgeous pass through the neutral zone from Nazem Kadri. Kessel burst into the zone and made a nifty move to beat Tuukka Rask.

Third period, 0:01, Maple Leafs 2-1: The third period is underway.

Second period reaction: The Maple Leafs have been very impressive through two periods, which is something we kind of expected despite their lack of playoff experience. They’ve been there every step of the way through two periods, and even after the Bruins got the game’s first goal early in the second period, the Maple Leafs did not go away.

Joffrey Lupul continues to hurt the Bruins, and he did so in a big way in the second period. Lupul scored both Toronto goals, and he did a good job of just putting himself in the right place to make plays. Give him credit as well for being able to finish his chances, and he’s one of the big reasons the Leafs are up 2-1.

It also doesn’t hurt that the Bruins aren’t nearly as sharp as they were in Game 1. The B’s were particularly sloppy in the second period, and the Leafs took advantage. It could have been even worse for Boston, really, but Tuukka Rask made a handful of big saves to keep this game close. If they’re able to tie it up and eventually take the lead, we’ll point to Rask’s play as a major reason why.

One goal is not going to win many hockey games, and it obviously won’t win this one. The Bruins need to follow Horton’s lead and get to the net to create traffic and second-chance opportunities. They’re also going to need something — anything — out of the third line. Jaromir Jagr has been somewhat invisible through two games, and that’s not good. The third line has been an issue all season long, and it looks like that’s carrying over.

End second period, Maple Leafs 2-1: The second period horn sounds, and the Maple Leafs take a lead to the room for the first time in this series.

Second period, 18:54, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins just got themselves a great chance as well, but James Reimer was able to preserve the lead.

Daniel Paille beat out a potential icing, that led to a Zdeno Chara shot from the point. Gregory Campbell was there for the rebound chance, but Reimer made the save and then covered up.

Second period, 15:17, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Bruins are starting to get a little sloppy in their own end, but it hasn’t quite cost them yet. However, it almost did.

The Leafs just did everything but score in a mad scramble in front of the Boston net, with a shot that hit the post and then another that appeared to hit Tuukka Rask in the backside as the goalie was facing the net. Somehow, no goal is scored, though.

Second period, 11:56, Maple Leafs 2-1: The Maple Leafs now have themselves the lead.

Matt Frattin did a wonderful job of bringing the puck through the neutral zone and into Boston’s end before he flipped it across to Joffrey Lupul. From there, Lupul had a pretty easy goal as he lifted it over a sprawling Tuukka Rask to give Toronto the lead, its second of the series. They scored the first goal in Game 1 before Boston scored four unanswered goals.

Second period, 11:12, 1-1: The Maple Leafs came this close to taking their first lead since early in Game 1.

Nikolai Kulemin did a terrific job of stickhandling and carrying the puck into the Boston zone before getting a backhanded shot attempt toward Tuukka Rask. The Toronto forward beat Rask, but he also rang the iron, hitting the post and keeping the game tied.

Second period, 9:35, 1-1: Rich Peverley’s delay of game penalty comes to an end, with the Bruins killing it off to keep it at 1-1 here midway through the second period.

Second period, 7:23, 1-1: The Bruins will have to kill another penalty.

This time around, it’s Rich Peverley who gets the penalty for delay of game after flipping the puck over the glass.

Second period, 5:18, 1-1: The Maple Leafs took full advantage of the questionable penalty call.

Joffrey Lupul was able to knock down a Jake Gardiner shot with his stick, gather it and then flip it by Tuukka Rask for the goal. The goal came with just 2 seconds left on the Boston penalty.

Second period, 3:20, Bruins 1-0: We’ve seen a couple of suspect penalty calls, and the latest will go against the Bruins. This time it’s Zdeno Chara who was called for tripping, giving Toronto a power play.

Second period, 1:56, Bruins 1-0: Go to the net and good things happen. Case in point: Nathan Horton.

The forward went straight to the net as Milan Lucic carried the puck into the Toronto zone. Lucic put the puck on net, and Horton crashed the net. Horton then drove home the rebound for the goal.

Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period begins, and Patrice Bergeron is back on the ice for the Bruins.

First period reaction: That was a much, much better period for the Leafs, their best period of the first two games. Toronto, who was outshot badly in Game 1, actually outshot the Bruins 12-10 in the first period. They also outhit the Bruins 22-10, making the physical part of the game a priority apparently. It will be interesting to see if they can sustain that against a physical team like the Bruins, and you have to think the B’s don’t necessarily mind playing that way.

I went back and watched Patrice Bergeron’s final shift of the period before he went to the room. It’s tough to say what the injury might be. He got tangled up in the front of the Toronto net in what looked to be a pretty harmless tumble. No idea if that’s where whatever happened may have happened, though.

Hopefully for the Bruins’ sake, Bergeron is ready to go. His line was good in the first, thanks in large part to Tyler Seguin, who was the best Bruin on the ice in the first. Seguin leads the team with four shots already, and he’s played most of his 4:52 like he was shot out of a cannon. He’s doing it at both ends, too, with at least one very impressive display of back-checking that broke up a potential Leafs rush.

End first period, 0-0: The scoreless first period comes to a close, with Patrice Bergeron missing from the Bruins bench. He left toward the end of the period and hasn’t returned.

First period, 18:57, 0-0: And just like that, the power play is over.

Brad Marchand was just sent to the box for tripping, and that negates the Boston power play. That was an iffy call at best.

First period, 18:48, 0-0: Brad Marchand, the agitator, gets the Bruins a power play.

Marchand mixed it up with a couple of Leafs after the whistle, but when the dust settled, it was only Dion Phaneuf who got the penalty.

The Bruins get the first power play of the night.

First period, 14:08, 0-0: Phil Kessel and the Leafs have had a couple of odd-man rushes so far, but they haven’t done anything with those just yet.

The latest came on a 2-on-1 as Zdeno Chara struggled to slow the play in the Toronto end and into the neutral zone. Joffrey Lupul passed the puck to Kessel at the end of the break, but Kessel couldn’t jam it home as he had outskated the puck just enough to take away the chance to bury a one-timer over the sprawling Tuukka Rask. The goalie pinned the puck with his left leg pad.

First period, 10:32, 0-0: Give the Maple Leafs credit — they’ve certainly come out much more physical in Game 2, and they look comfortable as well. They may be in line for a lift after Colton Orr just walloped Zdeno Chara with a big check in the corner in the Boston end.

The Leafs had a scoring chance not long after, but Phil Kessel made an errant pass in a 2-on-1 with Tyler Bozak that neutralized the threat.

First period, 6:36, 0-0: This is definitely a pumped-up crowd in the house for a Saturday night playoff game, and they’ve been treated to a good one so far.

We’ve seen plenty of jump from both teams, but especially the Bruins, who tilted the ice pretty good in the first few minutes.

Boston just got its best chance of the game when Jake Gardiner — who is in the lineup after missing Game 1 — made a horrible turnover. He tried to bank it off the boards in the Toronto end, but it went straight to Gregory Campbell in the slot instead. Campbell put a shot on goal from the high slot that James Reimer stopped. The puck started to trickle by Reimer, but he was able to cover it up to keep things scoreless.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game is underway here at the Garden.

7:09 p.m.: Boston Marathon victim Jeff Bauman just brought the house down in his first public appearance since the tragic events of Marathon Monday. To say it was a powerful moment would be an absolute understatement.

6:38 p.m.: We’ve got some changes in both lineups.

For the Bruins, it looks like Dougie Hamilton will be in the lineup, as he took pregame line rushes alongside Wade Redden. Also, Matt Bartkowski isn’t here. So that’s a good indication that he won’t be playing in this one.

Rich Peverley, as expected, was in there with Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr. Here are the lines.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara — Adam McQuaid
Dennis Seidenberg — Johnny Boychuk
Wade Redden — Dougie Hamilton

Here are the Leafs lines, from pregame warmups at least.

James van Riemsdyk — Tyler Bozak — Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin — Nazem Kadri — Joffrey Lupul
Leo Komarov — Mikhail Grabovski — Matt Frattin
Ryan Hamilton — Jay McClement — Colton Orr

Dion Phanuef — Carl Gunnarsson
Ryan O’Byrne — Jake Gardiner
Cody Franson — Mark Fraser

6:20 p.m.: Claude Julien, despite his team’s domination of Game 1, is not going to take anything for granted in this game. He’s unsurprisingly expecting the same effort out of his team, and he would even like to see them show a little bit of improvement. ‘

“You just have to look around the league and see what’s going on, a lot of series are tied 1-1,” he said after morning skate. “There’s nothing to get cocky about, or confident about, you just got to play every team the way you thought you would play that first one. We know they’re going to be a better team tonight, this is not a secret to anybody, but we have to be better ourselves.”

Warmups begin in about five minutes, which is when we’ll get a better idea of what the Bruins (and the Leafs) will be doing in terms of lineups.

5:50 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to a quiet TD Garden, that will be anything but in about an hour or so.

It will be especially emotional just before puck drop when the honorary captain is announced to the Garden crowd. After designating a local bomb squad as the honorary captain in Game 1, the Bruins will honor Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman prior to this game. Bauman, who suffered severe injuries, including the loss of both legs, will be in the house to wave the fan flag prior to the game. He’s also the guy who helped the FBI identify the two suspects.

That is going to be one incredible moment.

3:15 p.m.: We won’t know for sure what Claude Julien’s lineup will be for Game 2, but we got a pretty good indication going off of morning skate. Also, nothing changed from Friday’s practice. So you add it all up, and it sure looks like Dougie Hamilton will be in for the suspended Andrew Ference and Rich Peverley will be in on the third line in place of Kaspars Daugavins.

Julien did say that Matt Bartkowski is an option for the extra D-man spot, but that seems a little difficult to believe. Bartkowski was assigned to Providence last week, and he’s currently with the P-Bruins in their playoff series in Hershey.

On the other side of things, the Maple Leafs — who practiced Thursday and Friday — had a limited morning skate. Only a handful of players took the optional skate, which means we have no indication of what they will do with their lines Saturday night. Head coach Randy Carlyle was unwilling to divulge any of that information when he met with the media following the skate.

8 a.m. ET: All went according to plan in Game 1 for the Bruins, and now it’s on them to prove that it wasn’t just a one-time thing. While in-game consistency problems were solved for at least one game, the B’s will attempt to prove they can find sustained consistency Saturday night in Boston.

The Bruins and Maple Leafs will tangle in Game 2 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff first-round series Saturday night at TD Garden. The B’s are looking to take a 2-0 series lead after dismantling Toronto 4-1 in Game 1 on Wednesday night in Boston. There was a pretty noticeable discrepancy between the two teams in the first game, and the Leafs will try to bridge that in Game 2, but it won’t be easy. They looked overmatched and outclassed in the first meeting,

The Boston lineup will look a little different for Game 2, though. Most notably, Andrew Ference is out after being suspended one game for a hit on Mikhail Grabovski in the first period Wednesday. At Bruins practice Friday, it looked like Dougie Hamilton would be the man taking Ference’s place in the lineup, a move that would force the club to split up the valuable D-pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. There may also be changes up front. Rich Peverley was back skating with the third line alongside Jaromir Jagr and Chris Kelly at practice Friday, so that would indicate Pevrley will return after being scratched in Game 1.

Toronto coach Randy Carlyle has already said that he’ll make some changes in the lineup for Game 2, likely both up front and on the blue line. He won’t have a choice but to do something with his defense corps, though, as Mike Kostka suffered a broken finger in Game 1 and is out. That could be one of a few changes made by the head coach in an attempt to spark the club after a pretty ugly showing Wednesday night.

Puck drop for Game 2 is slated for 7 p.m.

Third period, 16:35, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins will get another shot on the power play.

Colton Orr continued his night of mischief with a cross-check and a misconduct. Clarke MacArthur will serve the penalty.

Third period, 16:13, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins have looked as good as you could ask in Game 1, and they continue to come at the Maple Leafs, showing no quit.

Nathan Horton and David Krejci almost hooked up for a goal as they barreled in on a 2-on-1, but Krejci’s pass jumped over Horton’s stick on the attempt one-timer.

Third period, 11:55, Bruins 4-1: Things remain chippy, as we’ve already got some good hatred being cooked up here in Game 1.

James van Riemsdyk has been in the middle of that all night long, and he gets another post-whistle scrum going just now. Not surprisingly, that led to some pushing and shoving from a few Bruins. As everyone started to skate away from the net, Zdeno Chara gave Phil Kessel a cross-check for good measure.

Third period, 7:06, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins look to have pushed the lead to 5-1, but the goal was waved off.

James Reimer made an initial save, and Patrice Bergeron crashed the net to jam it home. However, the ruling was that the whistle had been blown before Bergeron scored.

Third period, 6:15, Bruins 4-1: The power play comes and goes with no success for the Bruins.

The B’s didn’t really have too much in the way of chances there, but it looks like they’ve kind of turned it on autopilot, at least offensively. They’re still hitting everything that moves.

Third period, 3:15, Bruins 4-1: Things are getting a little nasty here.

Johnny Boychuk just crushed Mikhail Grabovski with a clean hit in the corner. That didn’t go over well with Colton Orr. The Toronto enforcer hit Boychuk with a cross-check, which then led to Andrew Ference jumping in.

Orr gets the extra penalty for cross-checking and roughing, so the Bruins get the power play.

Third period, 1:11, Bruins 4-1: Leo Komarov is in the penalty box now, and it’s for a 10-minute misconduct. No added power play for the Bruins, though.

Third period, 0:01, Bruins 4-1: The third period is underway, with 1:25 left on the Boston power play.

Second period reaction: What can you say at this point? The Bruins look like a totally different team than they did in the final two months, and the Maple Leafs are the ones suffering because of it.

Boston has shown a ton of jump, and they’re starting to enforce their will on the inexperienced Leafs. Toronto is certainly looking the part of the team that hasn’t been here before.

Just about every line is clicking for the Bruins right now. The Patrice Bergeron line and the Merlot Line have provided a ton of energy. The David Krejci line has combined for six points. The Chris Kelly line has been solid enough.

I’m a little bit surprised that the Maple Leafs didn’t make a goaltending change in the second period. James Reimer really looks like he’s fighting the puck right now, and after the fourth goal, you would think they might have made the change. Randy Carlyle decided to leave his starter in, as Ben Scrivens didn’t move a muscle at the end of the Toronto bench.

End second period, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins don’t get a goal in the first 35 seconds of the power play, but they’ll have 1:25 to cash in when the third period begins.

Second period, 19:24, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins look like they’ll end the period on a power play.

Clarke MacArthur just got called for hooking.

Second period: 15:44, Bruins 4-1: The rout is on.

Johnny Boychuk just blasted a shot from the right point that James Reimer had no chance to stop. The Bruins are in the driver’s seat in a big way right now.

Second period, 10:25, Bruins 3-1: If the Bruins play like this the entire series, the Maple Leafs have no chance.

The Bruins’ fourth line just turned in another terrific shift, with some incredible pressure in the Toronto end. That eventually gave way to the first line. As Mark Fraser tried to clear the puck, he just threw it to Andrew Ference at the Boston blue line. The B’s eventually got the puck back into the Toronto zone, where a loose puck bounced right to David Krejci, and the center beat James Reimer five-hole to extend the lead.

Second period, 6:01, Bruins 2-1: The Maple Leafs look to be upping the forecheck a bit, and that’s making the transitional game difficult for the Bruins. The B’s looked much better with their breakouts in the first period, but the Leafs are starting to make that a little more difficult.

Still liking what I’m seeing from the Patrice Bergeron line, though. Tyler Seguin just came galloping into the zone and put a shot toward net, but just missed over the crossbar.

Second period, 1:50, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins almost took the 3-1 lead when Tyler Seguin beat James Reimer with a wrist shot, but Seguin couldn’t beat the crossbar.

The play was reviewed after the goal light and horn went off, but the replays clearly showed that he hit iron.

Second period, 0:01, Bruins 2-1: The second period is underway with the B’s leading 2-1.

First period reaction: OK, so this is what the Bruins look like when they “flip the switch” or “turn the page” or whatever other cliche you want to use.

That was one of their best periods in a long time, as Boston came out looking like its hair was on fire. They responded about as well as you could have hoped after giving up the first goal on the power play, and other than that brief spurt, they really dominated the first. They spent much of the first period in the Toronto end, and they finally cashed in on some of those chances, as the Bruins outshot Toronto 15-7.

It was also good to see the power play come alive. Again, it was getting back to basic, simple things. Wade Redden did a nice job of carrying the puck into the attacking zone, he put the puck on net, and Nathan Horton was there in front to get traffic and tip the puck by James Reimer. The Toronto goalie, by the way, looked pretty shaky in the first period. He was flopping around toward the end of the period, and he lost his stick twice during the first. He was kind of just all over the place.

I also liked what I saw out of the Patrice Bergeron line. They need to get that line going, and if the first period was any indication, they should be on their way to doing that. They were all over the place, and Brad Marchand was particularly active (not to mention annoying) to help stir the pot.

All in all, a good first for the Bruins.

End first period, Bruins 2-1: That’s the end of what was a very exciting first period.

The Bruins, who dominated much of the period, take the lead into the dressing room.

First period, 19:48, Bruins 2-1: This place is rocking now, and that’s because the Bruins have the lead.

The B’s take the lead with a power-play goal, of all things, after Nathan Horton tipped home a Wade Redden shot from the point. What a couple of minutes for Redden.

First period, 17:55, 1-1: Now the Bruins get a chance to take the lead on the power play.

Dion Phaneuf just slashed Tyler Seguin, meaning Phaneuf goes to the box for two.

FIrst period, 16:20, 1-1: OK, so raise your hand if you saw Wade Redden scoring the Bruins’ first goal. Now put your hands down, liars.

The defenseman just blasted a shot from the left wing that James Reimer initially stopped but couldn’t control and it rolls over the goal line.

First period, 15:47, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Bruins just got their best shift of the night, and more importantly, they got it out of the Patrice Bergeron line.

The B’s killed off the penalty, and then got a great shift from the Bergeron line, a trio that has been scuffling a bit toward the end of the season. They need to get going offensively if this team is going to have any success. While they didn’t score in that last rush, they put some pretty good pressure on the Leafs, but James Reimer turned away everything he saw before freezing the puck.

First period, 11:56, Maple Leafs 1-0: Toronto is going back on the power play.

This time, it’s Johnny Boychuk with the hooking penalty that gives the Maple Leafs another power play, the first of which they scored on.

First period, 11:09, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Bruins are really starting  to dominate this period in just about every area but the scoreboard.

The Boston fourth line just had one of the team’s best shifts of the night that resulted in a scoring chance for Daniel Paille right in the middle of the slot. The forward missed wide with the shot, though.

It also remains physical with pushing and shoving after just about every stoppage in play. The Leafs look to be going after Zdeno Chara a bit, perhaps trying to goad him into taking a dumb penalty.

The B’s are outshooting Toronto 9-4 so far.

First period, 6:37, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Maple Leafs are bringing the body in the early going. The Bruins will more than welcome that, and so will everyone watching.

It’s been a good pace thus far, and while the Bruins find themselves down, it’s not necessarily because they’re flat. But, they’ve shown nothing so far that makes it look like they’re going to start burying their chances any time soon. It is early, though.

First period, 4:43, Maple Leafs 1-0: The story is the same for the Bruins through one power play.

The B’s got a few shots on net, but they couldn’t do enough to bury them. Brad Marchand hit a post (and maybe the side of the net as well) as the power play expires.

First period, 2:36, Maple Leafs 1-0: The Bruins get a power play of their own, thanks to Mark Fraser.

The defenseman was just given a delay of game penalty.

First period, 1:54, Maple Leafs 1-0: Toronto strikes first.

The Bruins couldn’t clear the puck in front of the net, and Cody Franson took full advantage of it that, grabbing a loose puck and putting it in front to James van Riemsdyk. The UNH product knows what to do when he’s got the puck in front, and he scores a relatively easy goal to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

First period, 1:38, 0-0: The Maple Leafs get the early power play.

Patrice Bergeron was called for tripping, and the Boston penalty kill must go to work without one its best killers.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game, the series and the playoffs are underway.

6:58 p.m.: Nathan Horton is back and Kaspars Daugavins is in the lineup. That means Rich Peverley is the odd man out.

6:38 p.m.: The Bruins and Maple Leafs are in the midst of pregame warmups, and it looks like the Bruins’ lines will be the same as mentioned earlier.

Tuukka Rask and James Reimer will be the goaltenders, as we all expected.

That means Nathan Horton appears to be in the lineup back on his regular line, while Kaspars Daugavins will skate on the third line with Chris Kelly centering and Jaromir Jagr on the right wing.

The Leafs, however, look to have changed their lines up some from the projections earlier, which were going off of what they used at practice Tuesday.

The top two lines remain the same, but there are some differences on the third line. Here are the third and fourth lines, per the Leafs’ pregame skate.

Clarke MacArthur — Nazem Kadri — Leo Komarov
Frazer McLaren — Jay McClement — Colton Orr

That’s one tough fourth line.

6:20 p.m.: Welcome to TD Garden, where we’re just a little less than an hour away from getting weird.

Just got up to my seat on Level 9 at the Garden, and I must say, there is a ton of media here for this one. Given the way the Maple Leafs are covered in Toronto — akin to the coverage of the Yankees or Red Sox in their respective cities — that’s no surprise.

Pregame warmups are about 10 minutes away, so we’ll have a lineup update once that happens and we get a better idea of what’s shaking down on that front.

3:30 p.m.: So we’re a little less than four hours from getting underway at the Garden, and in the meantime, why don’t we dive into some supplemental reading? At the very least, it beats working, right?

Here’s my story on all of the storylines at play coming into this series between the Bruins and the Maple Leafs. There could be even more added to the list, really.

Oh, and here’s my other story on the Phil Kessel thing, which is still a thing mind you. My prediction for Kessel’s series? It’s not going to go very well, because when has it for Kessel against Zdeno Chara and the Bruins?

1:45 p.m.: Now, we move onto the Maple Leafs. Toronto had a limited morning skate, with very little revealed in terms of line combinations. Defenseman Dion Phaneuf didn’t even attend, nor did head coach Randy Carlyle.

However, center Tyler Bozak was on the ice, which is good news for the Maple Leafs. Even better news is the fact that Bozak declared himself ready to go, as he battles a shoulder injury. While Carlyle didn’t say for sure Bozak would be back in the lineup, the head coach confirmed that Bozak was feeling very good and was ready to go. So it sounds all but certain that he will be in there.

Operating under that assumption, here are some projected forward lines for the Maple Leafs.

James van Riemsdyk — Tyler Bozak — Phil Kessel
Joffrey Lupul — Mikhail Grabovski — Nikolai Kulemin
Clarke MacArthur — Nazem Kadri — Matt Frattin
Leo Komarov — Jay McClement — Colton Orr

1:10 p.m.: There’s plenty to dig in to from the morning skates, and we’ll start with the Bruins.

Nathan Horton, who returned to practice Monday after missing the last week of the season with an upper-body injury, was at morning skate, taking his rushes alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci. However, Claude Julien said that Horton will be a game-time decision for Game 1. It would certainly seem that Horton will be in there, though.

If he’s not, it’s likely that Rich Peverley would be inserted into the lineup. The veteran winger appears to have lost a spot to Kaspars Daugavins on the third line with Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr. In the case that Horton can’t go, though, Peverley got some work in at morning skate with the third line, so he’s ready to go as well.

In other lineup news, it’s unlikely that Dougie Hamilton will be in the lineup to make his Stanley Cup playoffs debut. The rookie defenseman has been a healthy scratch a lot as of late, and Julien said that will “probably” be the case again for Game 1. That’s not necessarily because the Bruins don’t trust him or want him in the lineup, but there’s also juggling that needs to be done in terms of shot handedness that begins with pairing Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg.

With all of that being said, here are the Bruins’ projected lines for Game 1, assuming Horton is good to go.

Forwards

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Tyler Seguin — Patrice Bergeron — Brad Marchand
Kaspars Daugavins — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

Defensemen

Dennis Seidenberg — Zdeno Chara
Andrew Ference — Johnny Boychuk
Wade Redden — Adam McQuaid

Oh, and Tuukka Rask is expected to get the start in goal. Shocker.

12:56 p.m.: While most folks in Boston don’t think the B’s need much bulletin board material, Leafs forward Nazem Kadri sure gave them some this morning.

Kadri told reporter Chris Johnston that his excitement for the matchup is “going through the roof,” and added that “this is a very, very winnable series.” –JB

8 a.m. ET: The Bruins were simply not good for the last month and a half of the regular season. Luckily for them, however, the regular season is over, and the slate is wiped clean once the playoffs begin. The playoffs begin for the B’s on Wednesday night in Boston.

The highly anticipated meeting between the two Original Six rivals is their first in the playoffs since 1974.

That’s just one of the many storylines between two teams who have had plenty of meetings on and off the ice over the last few years. Toronto coming to town, once again, brings Phil Kessel back to Boston, where he began his career. The 25-year-old forward had a fine season, but finding success in the postseason — especially against his former team, a team he’s struggled against — will be a huge thing to watch in this series.

As mentioned, though, the Bruins have issues of their own to worry about. The B’s ended the season on a 3-5-2 run over their final 10 games, with generating offense the glaring problem. Boston averaged just two goals per game over the final eight games, watching the Northeast Division title slip away in favor of the Montreal Canadiens.

The good news for the Bruins, perhaps, is that they are getting healthier. Nathan Horton may return to the lineup Wednesday night after missing the final five games of the season with an upper-body injury. Jaromir Jagr is expected to return to the lineup after missing the final two games of the season with flu-like symptoms. While Horton has been wildly inconsistent this season, getting those two back in the mix won’t hurt.

Puck drop for Game 1 from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Final, Senators 4-2: That does it. The Bruins fall 4-2, and they’ll get the Maple Leafs in the first round.

Third period, 19:24, Senators 4-2: So it will be Toronto.

Kyle Turris just put the game away with an empty-net goal, and the Senators look like they’ll get the win, meaning Montreal wins the Northeast and the Bruins will take on Toronto in the first round.

Third period, 16:26, Senators 3-2: The Senators have been dominated for much of the period, yet they find themselves in the lead late in the third.

Ottawa withstood the charge from the B’s, and they now hold the lead. This time it’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring to put Ottawa back in front, as they lead 3-2.

Third period, 14:02, 2-2: The Bruins continue to pour pucks into the Ottawa zone and on net, but they haven’t been able to get anything by Robin Lehner since the Dennis Seidenberg goal.

Ottawa has just two shots here in the third period, with the Bruins picking up their defensive intensity, spear-headed by solid showings from Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara, who are getting better as the playoffs near.

Third period, 11:28, 2-2: This game is still tied 2-2, and that’s thanks in large part to Tuukka Rask. I mentioned that he would need to stand on his head here in the third, and he just did that in a big way.

Rask made the save of the night when he denied Erik Condra on a breakaway attempt.

Third period, 6:32, 2-2: The Bruins have gotten a noticeable lift here in the third period, as one might expect following that Dennis Seidenberg goal.

Gregory Campbell just had tremendous scoring opportunity with a shot in the slot, but Robin Lehner turned it away with a left pad save.

That fourth line has been good again in this one getting in on the forecheck. That trio has combined to put five shots on net and they’re getting some good run even into the third.

Third period, 0:14, 2-2: Well, that certainly did not take long.

The Bruins waste no time tying it up here in the third period. Dennis Seidenberg rips one by Robin Lehner from the right point to tie things at 2-2.

Third period, 0:01, Senators 2-1: The third period, presumably the final period of the regular season, is underway.

Second period reaction: For much of the second period it looked like the Bruins were about ready to pack it in and just get ready for first-round matchup with Toronto.

However, Rich Peverley scored the late power-play goal with just a few seconds to play, and this is a game again. More importantly, perhaps, the Bruins could get a big boost from this. The goal woke up what was, really, a dormant crowd. They’re fired up as evidenced by the roaring “Let’s go Bruins” chants that rained down as the B’s went to the dressing room as the period ended.

The B’s really need Tuukka Rask to stand on his head here in the third period. I honestly don’t like the chances of the Bruins scoring more than two goals in the third, so it’s imperative that Rask keeps the Senators where they are.

By the way, this would be a great time for that Patrice Bergeron line to break out. They have just three goals between the three of them in the last six games, and one of those was an empty-net goal from Brad Marchand.

End second period, Senators 2-1: The second period comes to an end, and once again, the period ends with some pushing and shoving and that fun stuff. It doesn’t look like there will be any penalties from this scrum, though.

Second period, 19:56, Senators 2-1: It looked like the Bruins were destined to see the power play expire without any success. So much for that idea.

Rich Peverley just injected a whole bunch of life into this building by scoring a power-play goal to cut the lead to one. Wade Redden did a great job of taking the hit along the boards when carrying the puck into the zone before passing it to Peverley who beat Robin Lehner five-hole with just seconds to play in the period.

Second period, 18:00, Senators 2-0: The Bruins started the period on the penalty kill, and they may end it on the power play.

Cory Conacher was just called for holding, which gives the B’s the man-advantage with 2:00 to play in the second.

Second period, 16:30, Senators 2-0: The Bruins just had arguably their best chance of the night. Milan Lucic and Kaspars Daugavins got free on a 2-on-1, and Lucic decided to shoot. He put it right in Robin Lehner’s midsection, and that’s that.

Second period, 16:09, Senators 2-0: Slowly but surely, this is turning into a very disappointing evening for the Bruins.

They don’t look to have the same jump they had during the first period, and they’re looking very “blah” once again here in the second.

If this keeps up, the Bruins will be headed for a first-round matchup with the Maple Leafs.

Second period, 10:33, Senators 2-0: Well, the Bruins are up against it at this point.

Jared Cowen just blasted one by Tuukka Rask from the point, and the Senators take the 2-0 lead midway through this game.

Second period, 9:55, Senators 1-0: The Bruins, bottled up in their own zone for a while, just iced the puck, and that led to Claude Julien using his timeout.

Second period, 7:36, Senators 1-0: The Bruins are starting to tilt the ice some, but they have nothing to show for it.

Robin Lehner has done a very nice job so far, and he just made arguably his best save of the evening. Lehner gloved a big slap shot from the right point off the stick of Johnny Boychuk. The B’s actually had traffic in front on that as well, with Carl Soderberg moving to the front of the net on the shot.

Tyler Seguin also had a scoring chance in front of the net to Lehner’s right, but Seguin couldn’t quite control the puck before skating by the net, cutting off his angle on net.

Second period, 2:20,  Second period, 2:08, Senators 1-0: So Brad Marchand’s penalty doesn’t come back to haunt the Bruins, as they kill off the Ottawa power play to begin the second period.

Second period, 0:01, Senators 1-0: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: On the whole, that wasn’t a terrible first period for the Bruins, but it wasn’t great, either.

The Bruins did outshoot the Senators 13-9, but the Sens lead where it matters, and that’s on the scoreboard. Tuukka Rask’s lone mistake of the first period did come back to bite him, when he couldn’t control a rebound that led to a relatively easy goal for Erik Condra. The same issue plagued Rask on Saturday night in Washington where a juicy rebound led to the game-winner for Eric Fehr.

The Bruins are definitely trying to get physical, though. They registered 11 hits in the first period, with a pair of them coming from Milan Lucic. The big winger has got his nasty back, and he’s trying to hit anything that moves right now. That includes Chris Neil, who Lucic fought late in the first period. Lucic and Neil are no stranger to each other, and this was another exciting fight between the two.

On the other side of the physical game, Brad Marchand just took what might have been a costly penalty at the end of the period. Marchand recklessly slashed Erik Karlsson, and the B’s winger earned himself a slashing penalty for the act. That power play will go into effect when the second period begins, and Ottawa will have two minutes on fresh ice. The good news for the Bruins, though, is that their penalty kill looked good in the first, while the Sens’ power play looked abysmal. So the Bruins have that going for them.

Once again, the Bruins need to get something going offensively. They’ve gotten some good scoring chances in the first, but they still need to do a better job of going to the net and getting in on the forecheck. It’s simple, but it’s been shown to work, and that’s what they need right now.

End first period, Senators 1-0: The second period comes to an end, but not without some physicality.

Brad Marchand drew a crowd behind the Ottawa net after the Bruins winger slashed Erik Karlsson as the buzzer sounded. Marchand was called for the slash, which means he’ll be in the box for two minutes when the second period begins.

First period, 18:36, Senators 1-0: Milan Lucic, the physical version of the Bruins winger, is back in a big way.

Lucic just dropped the gloves with Chris Neil in what was one of the best fights we’ve seen all year. The two traded a bunch of punches before finally running out of steam.

First period, 16:59, Senators 1-0: The Senators haven’t had much of anything at all in the first period, yet they’re the first on the board.

Tuukka Rask made a save on a chance from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, but the Bruins goalie couldn’t corral the rebound. That allowed Erik Condra to sweep in and bang home the second chance to give Ottawa the 1-0 lead.

First period, 14:46, 0-0: It would be really good for the Bruins if they could get the Patrice Bergeron line clicking like it was a month ago as they get set to enter the playoffs.

That line just created a scoring chance at the end of a lengthy shift, and it was Bergeron who was able to gain control of the puck just long enough in front of the Ottawa net to pass it back to the slot for a streaking Tyler Seguin. The forward blasted a shot from the right slot, but he put it right in Robin Lehner’s chest.

First period, 10:21, 0-0: Kaspars Daugavins is trying to make the most out of his opportunities when he’s in the lineup, and he almost turned that into a goal. Daugavins’ backhanded attempt was turned away by Robin Lehner.

First period, 10:00, 0-0: The Bruins’ penalty kill, which had some issues against a very good power play in the Capitals on Saturday night, looked very good on their first chance to kill one off in this one.

Then again, the Sens didn’t really help themselves. However, the Bruins did do a good job of clearing the puck when they had the chance not letting Ottawa sustain much of anything on the power play.

First period, 7:25, 0-0: Now it’s going to be the Senators’ turn to go on the power play.

Carl Soderberg got his stick caught in a skate in the Ottawa zone, and the Bruins forward was called for tripping.

First period, 5:30, 0-0: The Bruins could not do anything with their first power play of the night. They were only able to get one shot on goal with the man-advantage, which resulted in an easy save for Robin Lehner.

First period, 2:53, 0-0: The Bruins will get the game’s first power play. Patrick Wiercioch was just called for hooking, and the Bruins are going on the man-advantage.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game is underway in the regular-season finale here at the Garden.

7:05 p.m: The Bruins just got done passing out their regular-season awards.

Patrice Bergeron won the Eddie Shore Award (exceptional hustle and determination) as well as the Elizabeth Dufresne Torphy (outstanding performance during home games, voted by Boston media).

Tuukka Rask, Bergeron and Tyler Seguin won the First, Second and Third Star awards respectively.

6:56 p.m.: As mentioned earlier, this could be a preview of the first-round playoff series. If it is, history favors the Bruins, but barely. This is the fifth game between the two teams. The Bruins have won all four of those, and all of those have been by one goal, with one coming in the shootout and another coming in overtime.

So while the B’s have held the obvious edge in terms of wins and losses, every game has been very competitive.

6:43 p.m.: The Bruins’ lineup looks to be the same, at least in terms of players in the lineup, but the line combinations look to be a little different.

Here’s what the B’s went with in pregame skate, with Kaspars Daugavins skating up with Milan Lucic and David Krejci as the notable change.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Kaspars Daugavins
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

We obviously won’t know for sure until things get underway here at the Garden, though.

6:33 p.m.: Tuukka Rask leads the Bruins out, meaning he’ll get his second start in as many nights. Robin Lehner, not Craig Anderson, will be in net for the Senators.

6:25 p.m.: One more time — until after the game that is — let’s take a look at the playoff scenarios.

If the Bruins win in regulation, they will win the Northeast Division and they will be the No. 2 seed. They would play the New York Islanders.

If the Bruins win in overtime or a shotout, the B’s will also win the Northeast Division (duh), and they will get the No. 2 seed, but they would play the Senators who would pick up a point in the losing effort.

If the Bruins lose — in regulation or overtime — the Canadiens win the division and the Bruins drop to the No. 4 seed. They would then play the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The more you know. Get all of the scenarios right here.

6:15 p.m.: Claude Julien just wrapped up his pregame media availability, and he revealed that Jaromir Jagr will miss this game. Jagr missed Saturday’s game as well with the flu, according to the club.

Nathan Horton remains out with an upper-body injury.

Here are the lines the B’s went with Saturday and will apparently go with once again in this one with the division title at stake.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Kaspars Daugavins
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

6:05 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to TD Garden for the Bruins’ regular-season finale. Seems like just yesterday we were here for Bruins-Rangers on Jan. 19 for the season opener.

As I type, the Zamboni making its rounds around the TD Garden ice, a sheet that may be a little chippy for this one. The Celtics just finished up their game a little more than two hours ago, so the Bull Gang has been hard at work trying to get everything ready changing the basketball court over to the ice. All in all, a tremendous job done by everyone involved. But the weather is warm, and they just opened up the ice, so it may be a little soft.

8 a.m. ET: It all comes down to Sunday night for the Bruins and a handful of other Eastern Conference teams, as the B’s take on the Ottawa Senators in a rescheduled game.

The B’s and Sens were supposed to square off on April 15, but that was postponed due to the horrific events at the Boston Marathon. Now the two teams must play on the “new” final day of the season, the second of a back-to-back for both teams. The Bruins coughed up another third-period lead Saturday night in Washington, dropping an overtime decision to the Capitals. The Senators, meanwhile, fell to the Flyers in Ottawa.

The B’s ability to pick up a point against the Caps puts them in position to win the Northeast Division title with a win on Sunday. The Bruins need a win to wrap up the title, though, as an overtime loss won’t be enough to hold off the Canadiens who finished the season Saturday night. You can see all of the Eastern Conference first-round scenarios by clicking here.

While winning the division crown would be nice, the Bruins need a strong showing Sunday just to get going in the right direction headed into the playoffs. They were actually pretty good for two periods Saturday night, but the penalty kill fell apart in the third period, as the Bruins gave up two goals in the third before giving up another power-play tally in overtime.

Puck drop from the Garden is slated for 7 p.m. Sunday night.

Eric Fehr just scored in overtime to give the Capitals the 3-2 lead, putting the cap on another gut-punch loss for a Bruins team that led 2-0 heading into the third period.

Overtime, 1:40, 2-2: The Bruins are up against it now.

Chris Kelly just hit the post with a potential game-winner, and now the Bruins are without their best defensive player. Zdeno Chara is headed to the penalty box for a two-minute hooking penalty.

End regulation, 2-2: The third period comes to an end with the Bruins unable to score on the 4-on-3. They got a couple of shots on goal, but there wasn’t any legitimate scoring chance.

The B’s will open the overtime with 25 seconds of power play.

Third period, 18:21, 2-2: Boston will get its chance to score a big third-period goal, thanks to a Washington penalty.

Mike Green just caught Tyler Seguin with a hooking penalty, and the Bs’ get 1:07 of 4-on-3.

Third period, 17:28, 2-2: Brad Marchand has struggled over the last few games, but he may have just inadvertently helped the Bruins.

Marchand and Alex Ovechkin got tied up after a play, and both players got roughing minors. They’ll both sit for two minutes, which means we’ll have 4-on-4 hockey until the final minute.

Third period, 15:43, 2-2: The Bruins have started to turn things on here late in the third with the help of their top two lines.

The B’s haven’t been able to roll their full lines for much of the period with all of the penalty killing, and now that they’re back to even strength, they’re able to get some things going. Milan Lucic was just stopped on a one-time bid in front of the net.

Third period, 11:00, 2-2: The good news is that the Bruins killed off the penalty. Actually, that’s really the only news right now.

Third period, 8:13, 2-2: The parade to the penalty box for the Bruins continues.

Adam McQuaid was just called for holding, and the Capitals have another power play.

Third period, 7:21, 2-2: We’ve seen this one before.

The Bruins have once again seen a third-period lead evaporate in Washington, and it’s Mike Green on the power play again. The defenseman just blasted a rocket by Tuukka Rask for the goal that ties the game.

Third period, 6:27, Bruins 2-1: The Caps, fresh off a power-play goal, will get another man-advantage to try and tie the score.

Rich Peverley gets called for tripping, and that gives Washington the power play.

Third period, 5:26, Bruins 2-1: The Capitals’ power play has been as good as it gets, and that’s because they have some real offensive talent.

One of those talented players is Mike Green. The defenseman just beat Tuukka Rask with a wrist shot from the right point to cut the lead in half.

Third period, 5:11, Bruins 2-0: The impressive Capitals power play gets another chance.

This time, it’s because of an Adam McQuaid trip.

Third period, 0:01, Bruins 2-0: The third period is underway.

Second period reaction: More of the same from the Bruins in the second period, and that’s good news over the last couple of games.

The Bruins are starting to look a lot better defensively, and when they have gotten a little sloppy in their own end, Tuukka Rask was there to make the save. The goalie is one period from posting his third shutout in as many starts. That’s fairly impressive.

At the risk of making this the Milan Lucic Show, the big forward did a terrific job of helping Boston score its second goal in the second period. Lucic skated furiously down the middle of the ice and then dropped the puck to Rich Peverley while not breaking stride on his way to the net. Peverley passed it to Andrew Ference, and the defenseman scored with a wrist shot, thanks in part to Lucic screening in front.

Ference has been playing much better in the last month or so, and he’s having another nice night. He’s logged almost 13 minutes of ice time so far, and he’s got three hits in addition to the goal.

End second period, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty, and they almost extended their lead to three in the process.

Rich Peverley was able to hop on a loose puck in the neutral zone and looked to be on a breakaway all alone. However, Alex Ovechkin was able to catch Peverley and bump him off of his path just enough to disrupt Peverley’s scoring chance.

Second period, 17:15, Bruins 2-0: If the Bruins want to take the 2-0 lead to the room, they’ll have to kill off a penalty.

Zdeno Chara was called for holding, and Washington is about to begin its first power play of the night.

Second period, 14:44, Bruins 2-0: Tuukka Rask just had to make his biggest combination of saves, and he looked very good doing so. He looks incredibly calm right now with no wasted movement, and the results speak for themselves.

However, he had to make those saves because the Capitals are starting to turn things on in the Boston end. The Caps have upped their pressure, and the Bruins’ sloppy play in their own zone along with the inability to clear the puck has made for some hectic play here in the second.

Second period, 10:13, Bruins 2-0: We’ve talked a lot about Milan Lucic so far, but don’t forget about Tuukka Rask. The Bruins goalie has a shutout in each of his last two starts, and he’s halfway to picking up another one at this point.

Second period, 7:49, Bruins 2-0: Milan Lucic continues to impress, and it leads to the second Boston goal.

The big forward just took off down the middle of the ice on a Bruins rush, and he went straight to the crease. Lucic planted himself in front of the net, and he created just enough net-front traffic to screen Braden Holtby as Andrew Ference followed the play and beat Holtby with a wrist shot.

Second period, 5:08, Bruins 1-0: The B’s weren’t able to get anything on their first power play.

They did, however, get a few chances in the middle of the man-advantage with Milan Lucic doing some playmaking. It’s certainly a good sign to see him getting going.

Second period, 2:56, Bruins 1-0: We saw a first period with no penalties, but it didn’t take long for us to get a penalty in the second.

The Bruins get the first power play after Jason Chimera gets called for holding.

Second period, 0:10, Bruins 1-0: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: The Bruins have to feel pretty good getting out of the first period with the lead, especially with the way things started. The Bruins were a little flat and a little sloppy in the first seven minutes or so, but they rebounded nicely and turned in what was actually a pretty decent period.

Milan Lucic got the B’s on the board with the game’s lone goal so far, a goal that can’t be described as anything other than lucky. However, that’s what happens when you start to play your game. Both Lucic and Claude Julien spoke Thursday night about how if Lucic continues to play his game — skating hard, playing physical and hitting — that everything else will come along. It’s not very scientific, but it usually works out that way. When Lucic was going poorly in the last month or two, he wasn’t moving his feet. He also wasn’t getting any bounces or any luck around the net. Now, he starts to skate hard and play his game, and that has already paid off for him.

By the way, Toronto is leading Montreal 1-0 in the first period.

End first period, Bruins 1-0: That incredibly quick period comes to an end with the Bruins leading 1-0 in Washington.

After the TV timeout at 7:05, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t another TV stoppage, which means the period flew by. It also means I was short on live blog updates. I’ll make up for it with some analysis and reaction in a few minutes.

First period, 9:59, Bruins 1-0: Milan Lucic showed signs of breaking out Thursday night against Tampa Bay, but he had nothing to show for it. Well, now he does.

Lucic just gave the Bruins the early lead after he took a puck off of a faceoff win and just put a wrist shot toward the net that hit Karl Alzner’s skate and went by Braden Holtby for the goal.

First period, 7:05, 0-0: Seven minutes in, and the Bruins are still looking for any sort of sustained momentum in the offensive end.

The game has been played, for the most part, in the Washington zone. The Capitals have already put seven shots on goal to just two from the Bruins, and Tuukka Rask has already had to make a couple of big saves, including one on Troy Brouwer where the goalie kind of jumped around his crease before making a shoulder save.

Offensively, it’s just more sloppy passing from the Bruins who have turned the puck over a handful of times already.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game is underway in Washington.

7 p.m.: By the way, it’s another NESNplus night for the Bruins. You can find your local listings by clicking here.

6:50 p.m.: It appears that Kaspars Daugavins will be back in the Bruins’ lineup in place of Jaromir Jagr. According to pregame line rushes, the Bruins are going with the same lines that they rolled Thursday, aside from replacing Jagr with Daugavins.

It will be Daugavins’ first appearance since April 13.

For those asking for lineups sooner, the Bruins had an optional morning skate with a handful of players sitting out. So there were no morning skate line rushes to go off of. Without those, you have to wait until pregame line rushes, which is where we learned that Daugavins in for Jagr was the only change to the lines from Thursday’s game. So, yeah.

6:35 p.m.: The Eastern Conference playoff picture is far from solidified, and it probably won’t be until the season officially concludes with Bruins-Senators on Sunday night.

The B’s could still face one of four teams in the first round of the playoffs. They could end up taking on the Maple Leafs, Rangers, Islanders or the Senators.

The Rangers white-washed the Devils earlier today, which moves New York into the No. 6 spot. If the playoffs started right this minute, the Rangers would play the Capitals, and the Bruins would take on the Islanders.

The thing is, though, is that the Senators still have two games to play. They’ve got Philadelphia at home Saturday before wrapping up the season in Boston on Sunday night. Ottawa is currently the No. 8 seed with 54 points. If they win both games, they could conceivably move all the way up to No. 5 and take on whoever doesn’t win the Northeast — either Boston or Montreal.

The Sens could also win one of two, and they would leap-frog the Islanders, bumping the Isles to No. 8. That would set up a Bruins-Senators first-round series, assuming the B’s are able to win the division.

It’s kind of messy at this point. We’ll know more in a few hours, but we won’t know for sure until the season comes to a close in a little more than 24 hours.

6:30 p.m.: Pregame wamups have begun in Washington, with Tuukka Rask leading the Bruins out and Braden Holtby getting the nod for the Caps.

5:45 p.m.: Happy Saturday night, hockey fans. Hopefully you decided to join us for a few hours before heading off to the bars and pubs to do whatever it is you crazy kids do.

The Bruins, as you all know by now, are in Washington to play the Capitals. That would be a good thing for the Bruins at the beginning of the season, but the Caps have turned it on down the stretch here. Under first-year coach Adam Oates, the Capitals are one of the hottest teams in the league. That all comes after they were among the NHL’s worst teams in the first month or so of the season. You could argue, in fact, that the Caps started to turn it around against the Bruins. Washington came from behind after falling down 3-0 in the first period on March 5 to beat the B’s in overtime.

Counting that win, the Capitals are 18-7-2 since March 5, and in the process, they have locked up the Southeast Division title and the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference. They’ve been even better since the calendar hit April, going 10-1-1 in the season’s final month, playing their best hockey as the season comes to a close. A lot of that stems around the resurgence of Alex Ovechkin, with the Russian forward returning to the ranks of the league’s best players. Ovechkin is making a play for the Rocket Richard trophy with a league-leading 32 goals entering play Saturday night. Twenty-two of those goals have come since March 17 with Ovechkin scoring 15 times in April.

2 p.m.: The Bruins will be without Jaromir Jagr for this one, and they’ll also be without fellow winger Nathan Horton. The big forward hasn’t played since last week when he was injured in a fight with Pittsburgh’s Jarome Iginla. The upper-body injury forced Horton to leave the game, and he hasn’t played since. That trend will continue Saturday night in D.C.

Horton skated Thursday and Friday, but he’s still not ready to return. In fact, it still sounds like it’s up in the air as to whether or not the winger will be back for the beginning of the playoffs.

“I wouldn’t say 100 percent,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien told reporters when asked whether or not Horton would be ready for the playoffs. “To us right now, that’s the main goal, he should be ready for us. But again, those are always hard things to kind of pinpoint, depends on when we start and everything else. But he’s skating, he’s progressing, he’s doing much better, so we anticipate, and our goal is, to certainly have him back by then.”

12 p.m.: The biggest not from morning skate is that Jaromir Jagr will not be in the lineup for this game. In fact, he didn’t even make the trip. Claude Julien says Jagr is suffering from the flu right now, so he didn’t even head down to Washington. Jagr didn’t practice Friday, either.

8 a.m.: The Bruins took a step in the right direction Thursday against Tampa Bay, but now they have to try and string that together as they get set to enter the playoffs.

The B’s bounced back from an awful showing in Philadelphia on Tuesday to shut out the Lightning on Thursday night, and now they head to the nation’s capital on Saturday night to tangle with the Capitals. The Bruins will have their first chance to wrap up the Northeast Division in the process. If the B’s win and the Canadiens lose in regulation or overtime, the Bruins will clinch the division and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

They sure sound like they’re making the division title a priority, so it would make sense that they’d do all they could to get that out of the way Saturday, which would give them the option of resting some players Sunday night at home against Ottawa.

The Bruins are looking to establish consistency as a team, but they’re also looking to do so individually. That’s why it will be interesting to see whether or not Milan Lucic is able to continue where he left off Thursday night. The big forward had one of his best, most involved games in a long time against Tampa Bay, and he needs to show that he can do that consistently as the playoffs are just a few days away.

The answers to all these questions will come at 7 p.m.

Third period, 16:43, Bruins 2-0: It took almost 57 minutes, but the Bruins have their first power play of the game.

Victor Hedman gets the hooking penalty sending the B’s on the power play.

Third period, 15:27, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins have had a lot of good things to take out of this one, the play of Tuukka Rask being chief among them.

However, the Bruins’ line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin continues to struggle. Marchand has had a particularly tough period, having turned the puck over a couple of times and whiffing on a shot. He just skated to the bench, put his stick in front of him and stomped on it until it broke.

Third period, 10:20, Bruins 2-0: Tuukka Rask just got his toughest test of the third period with a couple of scoring chances from Vincent Lecavlier and Alex Killorn. The Bruins goalie was able to turn away both chances before freezing the puck.

The Lightning have brought it here in the third, at least in terms of putting shots on net outshooting, Boston 8-4, for whatever that may be worth.

Third period, 6:28, Bruins 2-0: So far here in the third period, there hasn’t been much of anything going on.

Now would be a good time to talk about Tuukka Rask. The Boston goaltender has been sensational thus far in one of his best games of the season. His big saves in the second period may have literally saved the game for the Bruins, and if they hold on, he’ll get a lot of credit for helping the B’s get back on the winning track.

Third period, 0:10, Bruins 2-0: The third period is underway.

End second period, Bruins 2-0: The second period, the Bruins’ best in quite some time, comes to an end with the B’s leading 2-0.

Second period, 17:22, Bruins 2-0; This has been Milan Lucic’s best game in a while, and that’s all because of his physical presence.

He just picked it up another level with a spirited fight with Keith Aulie late here in the second period.

Second period, 15:18, Bruins 2-0: Tuukka Rask has been fantastic so far.

The Bruins goalie just came up with a few big-time saves. First, he robbed Steven Stamkos with a gorgeous glove save. That save eventually led to the Daniel Paille goal.

Shortly thereafter, Rask made a two-save combo on Alex Killorn to keep Tampa Bay scoreless.

Second period, 13:31, Bruins 2-0: There were many who thought Daniel Paille should win the 7th Player Award, and yours truly was one of them. He just added to our unsuccessful case.

The fourth-line winger just scored his 10th goal of the season on a beautiful pass from Gregory Campbell to give Boston the 2-0 lead.

Second period, 11:42, Bruins 1-0: Benoit Pouliot has not been able to solve Tuukka Rask so far. Maybe he should start lifting the puck.

After Rask stoned Pouliot in the first period with a right pad kick save, he just did the same with the left leg as Pouliot streaked down the center of the ice for a scoring opportunity.

Second period, 8:21, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins were once again able to kill off the penalty, and they’re now 3-for-3 on the kill so far.

They got a good shift in the moments that followed from the third line of Chris Kelly, Carl Soderberg and Jaromir Jagr. It’s pretty impressive to see how Soderberg has adjusted and continues to adjust on the fly. He’s a big, strong guy, and that alone has to be making the adjustment period easier.

Second period, 5:30, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins will have to kill off yet another penalty.

This time it’s Patrice Bergeron who’s guilty. The center was called for delay of game after putting the puck over the glass. That gives Tampa Bay its third power play of the night.

Second period, 4:22, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins, after looking asleep for a good portion of this game, have awaken and taken the lead.

Dennis Seidenberg just got the B’s on the board with a blast from the right point that beat Anders Lindback to the goalie’s blocker side.

Brad Marchand did a nice job of carrying the puck into the zone and both he and Patrice Bergeron went to the front of the net to create some traffic.

Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway here at the Garden.

First period reaction: It was a bit of a slow start to the period for the Bruins, who were only able to manage four shots on goal in the first .

However, there were a few positives to take out of the frame. First, you have to give Andrew Ference props for stepping up and fighting Benoit Pouliot midway through the period. With the B’s looking a little lethargic, Ference certainly gave the club a boost by dropping the gloves with his former teammate.

Milan Lucic and David Krejci look to have gotten their respective wake-up calls. Both are flying around the ice in all three zones, and they’re throwing their weight around as well. They both have a team-high three hits through one. The fourth line is also providing a similar type of energy.

Tuukka Rask looks sharp in the early going. His best save of the period came on a right leg pad save on Pouliot’s one-timer from the slot on the first Tampa Bay power play.

Speaking of power plays, the B’s will have to kill off the final 1:17 of Adam McQuaid’s roughing penalty to open the second.

End first period, 0-0: The first 44 seconds of the power play are successfully killed by the Bruins, thanks to blocked shots from Zdeno Chara, who got his stick on a Steven Stamkos slap shot, and Patrice Bergeron, who was got in front of a Sami Salo shot from the point.

First period, 19:16, 0-0: Adam McQuaid was just sent to the penalty box for roughing, which means the Bruins will have to  be on the penalty kill for the rest of the period and into the second.

First period, 14:00, 0-0: Andrew Ference just injected some life into the building.

The Bruins defenseman just dropped the gloves with former teammate Beniot Pouliot in a pretty good fight behind the Bruins’ goal.

First period, 11:33, 0-0: You have to give the Lightning credit. For a team that is out of contention and played a night ago, they’ve brought a good game so far.

They’ve spent the majority of the first period in the Boston end, and they’re outshooting the Bruins 7-2 midway through the first. Tuukka Rask has been solid thus far for the Bruins.

First period, 7:38, 0-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the game’s first penalty, thanks in large part to Tuukka Rask.

The Lightning were able to gain possession in the Boston end with some good puck movement that eventually led to Martin St. Louis finding Benoit Pouliot in the slot. Rask turned the one-timer aside with a right pad save to keep the game scoreless.

First period, 5:21, 0-0: The Lightning have been given the first power play of the evening.

Chris Kelly just got called for high-sticking, a minor penalty.

First period, 19:00, 0-0: The game is underway here at the TD Garden.

7:37 p.m.: Dougie Hamilton was just announced as the 7th Player Award winner.

7:14 p.m.: Oh, and here are your line combinations for the Bruins, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

7:09 p.m.: It looks like Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski will get the night off. The young duo of defensemen didn’t take line rushes in pregame warmups.

Here are the defensive pairs the B’s featured.

Zdeno Chara — Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference — Johnny Boychuk
Adam McQuaid — Wade Redden

6:59 p.m.: The two teams have taken the ice for pregame warmups.

As expected, Tuukka Rask led the Bruins out, and Anders Lindback led the Lightning out, so they’ll be your goaltenders for this one.

6:45 p.m.: Welcome to TD Garden where the Bruins and Lightning are about an hour away from doing battle.

It’s a special night at the Garden as the 7th Player Award will be handed out. There will be a special pregame ceremony in advance of puck drop for that.

3:45 p.m.: Much has been made about the schedule this year and for good reason. Every NHL team has gone through a treacherous point in the schedule at some point this season, and the Bruins’ rough point is right now. It’s obviously come at a poor time, given the fact that the team is looking to gain momentum heading into the playoffs.

However, the consolidated schedule in the stretch run hasn’t been exclusive to the Bruins. I was taking a look at some of the teams that are peaking on their way toward the playoffs just to see where other teams are at. One of the league’s hottest teams, the Washington Capitals, has had a similarly difficult schedule.

Since March 1, the Caps have played 27 games, while the Bruins have played 28. During that stretch, Washington is 19-7-1, while Boston is only 14-11-3. It’s probably worth noting that 12 of those Capitals game came against Southeast Division opponents, which aided their win total, no doubt. Similarly, the Los Angeles Kings have played 29 games since March 1 and have gone 16-10-3 over that stretch. That’s four more points than the Bruins in that stretch (albeit in one more game). If the Bruins had four more points right now, they’d be able to clinch the division tonight against Tampa, which would allow them to think about nothing but rest in the final two games over the weekend.

What does it all mean? Probably not much, maybe nothing at all. But I think in a small way it does represent the fact that the schedule hasn’t been particularly cruel to the Bruins, and it’s not something that has crippled teams across the league, either. Is it playing a role? Sure. Is it the main reason the Bruins are scuffling toward the finish line? That’s probably still up for debate, but maybe not.

2:35 p.m.: By the way, this game is another NESNplus game. If you want to find out where you can find your listings, you can do so by clicking here.

2:15 p.m.: Nathan Horton skated at morning skate, but Claude Julien says the Bruins winger will not play once again. He hasn’t played since leaving Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury following a fight with Jarome Iginla in the Bruins’ loss to the Penguins over the weekend.

Julien said Horton remains day-to-day, and the head coach didn’t offer much information other than that, other than to say Horton was “progressing well.”

2 p.m.: Carl Soderberg  is in the process of finding his way in the NHL, and he’s jumping around the Bruins’ third line in the process.

Soderberg, who was moved to center midway through his second game and centered a line with Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr in this third game, will likely be back on the wing Thursday night. Kelly is expected to be pivoting that line against Tampa Bay, according to B’s head coach Claude Julien.

“[Soderberg] can be good there, but so can Kelly,” Julien said after morning skate. “Tonight, I plan on using Kelly at center and putting Soderberg back on the wing. It’s okay for him to feel comfortable there, but at the same time, I have to make a decision. Do I take a guy that’s already a pretty good centerman, a good two-way centerman and put him in a weaker spot because I want to please this guy? Or do I do it the other way around? I’m just trying to get a feel here and see how he does on the wing. Again, by playoff time, I’m going to have to make a decision of who’s playing where and go from there. That’s why we have those three games to look at that.”

Soderberg has a pair of assists in his three games with the Bruins.

1:15 p.m.: Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice at morning skate, which means he’ll likely be the starting goaltender for the Bruins against Tamp Bay.

8 a.m. ET: Perhaps the best news for the Bruins heading into Thursday’s game with the Tampa Bay Lightning is that there is no snow in the forecast. Thursday’s game was originally scheduled for Feb. 9, but a snowstorm of historic proportions pounded Boston and forced a postponement.

Now it’s part of what’s been a jam-packed schedule for the Bruins all the way up into the final week of the season. Thursday’s game will mark the second of the week for the Bruins, a week in which they will play four games in six days, including back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.

At the very least, it might give the Bruins a chance to straighten things out. The B’s are playing their worst hockey at the worst time of the season right now, and it isn’t inspiring much faith among Bruins fans. Fatigue is no doubt playing a role, but Boston coach Claude Julien finally cut that down as an excuse following an embarrassing 5-2 loss Tuesday in Philadelphia.

“Let’s stay away from excuses because it’s not gonna work,” he told reporters after the game. “Excuses is a lot of BS right now. We need to quit hiding behind those excuses because it’s a load of crap.”

The Bruins will presumably get a chance to work on some things Thursday with Tampa Bay in town. The Bolts have little to play for right now, but that was also the case with the Flyers, and that didn’t turn out so well. Either way, come this time next week, the playoffs will be upon us. It’s now or never for the Bruins, and they can try to dig out of this hole starting again Thursday.

Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden.

Third period, 15:02, Flyers 5-2: It’s time for some real talk, people.

This team looks dead right now, in this game at least. They look like they’re about ready to just get out of Philadelphia and move on, with Tampa Bay coming into Boston on Thursday.

Third period, 13:00, Flyers 5-2: Anton Khudobin has returned for the Bruins in between the pipes, for whatever that’s worth at this point.

Third period 8:33, Flyers 5-2: OK, so the Bruins are dead.

Just 13 seconds after Boston pulled within two, the Flyers made the B’s pay for sloppy play. Wade Redden tried to force the puck through the neutral zone, but that pass was broken up, sending the Flyers the other way.

That eventually led to a goal from Simon Gagne, as the veteran forward buried a shot by Tuukka Rask after a beautiful pass from Claude Giroux.

Third period, 8:20, Flyers 4-2: The Bruins aren’t dead yet apparently.

David Krejci just scored to pull the B’s within two.

Third period, 5:33, Flyers 4-1: There’s still plenty of time left, but that might do it.

The Bruins get ugly with the puck in their own zone, and the Flyers made them pay.

Jakub Voracek ends up getting behind the defense, and Claude Giroux hits him with a gorgeous pass. Voracek then deked a couple of times before sliding a backhander through Tuukka Rask’s legs.

Third period, 3:00 , Flyers 3-1: The Bruins have done some shaking of the lines.

Jaromir Jagr has moved up to a line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, while Tyler Seguin is skating with Milan Lucic and David Krejci.

Carl Soderberg is now with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, while the fourth line remains intact.

Third period, 0:20, Flyers 3-1: The third period is underway.

Second period reaction: Yeah, so that was not a good period for the Bruins.

The B’s took a major step back in the second period after a decent first period. They have also taken a couple steps back after turning in a few good games as of late. This is not what you want to see out of a team that’s trying to put things together down the stretch.

It looks like Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin may be in Claude Julien’s doghouse right now. As The Patriot Ledger’s Mike Loftus pointed out on Twitter, the duo didn’t see the ice for the final 8:36 of the second period. There was plenty of power-play time for both sides, but under normal circumstances, we would have seen both of them on the ice at some point. Maybe that will be a wake-up call for those guys.

End second period, Flyers 3-1: The second period comes to an end without any success on the power play for the Bruins.

They came close in the final seconds, though. Jaromir Jagr found a hustling Milan Lucic coming in the back door down the right wing, but Steve Mason was able to stop Lucic’s one-time tip attempt.

Second period, 18:01, Flyers 3-1: The Bruins won’t likely score on this power play (they’ve looked horrendous), but they’ll be able to add another two minutes.

With four seconds left in the first penalty, Simon Gagne flipped the puck over the ice and was called for delay of game.

Second period, 16:05, Flyers 3-1: This is a big chance for the Bruins to climb back into the game.

Danny Briere just caught Andrew Ference with a high-stick that puts the Bruins on the power play for two.

Second period, 15:07, Flyers 3-1: The Bruins can’t do anything on their own abbreviated power play, and it was another ugly one with not much in the way of chances.

What once looked like a promising offensive effort is slowly getting disheartening, as the Bruins are being held down by a Flyers team that doesn’t have much of a defense to speak of.

Second period, 12:54, Flyers 3-1: The Flyers’ power play is short-lived, thanks to Wayne Simmonds being strong.

The big Philly forward just slashed the stick out of Dennis Seidenberg’s hands, and he’s going to the penalty box to negate the power play.

Second period, 11:47, Flyers 3-1: The Bruins will now have to kill off a penalty.

Carl Soderberg was just called for high-sticking.

Second period, 11:31, Flyers 3-1: Things have gotten a little out of hand here in the second period.

Anton Khudobin has been yanked after he allowed two goals in seven seconds. Zdeno Chara tried to move the puck in his own end, and the puck went into the crease, hit Khudobin’s stick and went into the net.

Tuukka Rask comes on for the Bruins.

Second period, 11:24, Flyers 2-1: Matt Read just scored one of the nicer goals we’ve seen all season.

Wayne Simmonds took a shot from the top of the slot, which Read followed up. Read’s rebound attempt was knocked away at first by Anton Khudobin, but Read batted it out of the air by Khudobin.

Second period, Second period, 7:22, 1-1: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty.

Brad Marchand got a shorthanded opportunity, but Steve Mason made an impressive kick save with his right pad to keep it 1-1.

Second period, 4:41, 1-1: It’s turning into a rough night for David Krejci.

His turnover led to Scott Hartnell’s first-period goal, and he was just called for a questionable tripping penalty. The Bruins are now back on the penalty kill.

Second period, 0:01, 1-1: The second period is underway in Philadelphia.

First period reaction: So far, so good for the Bruins, especially if you take out the early David Krejci turnover that led directly to Scott Hartnell’s goal.

The Bruins look to have a good amount of jump in the early going. They’re bringing the body, and they’re putting the pressure on the Flyers. You do kind of have to take that with a grain of salt, though. Philly is beat up and they don’t have much to play for right now. Even more, their defensive corps was suspect to begin the year, which was before they started to be ravaged by injuries. That doesn’t mean the Bruins can’t some offensive momentum going and try to get on a roll, but it is worth considering the opponent as well.

The Bruins’ goal was a thing of beauty, and it’s exactly what they need to do to be better offensively. It started with a good breakout to Carl Soderberg, and the center did a nice job of carrying the puck through the neutral zone and into the attacking zone. He then moved the puck to Jaromir Jagr, which is always a good idea. Jagr put the shot on net, and created the rebound opportunity for Wade Redden, of all people. The defenseman did a nice job of going to the net, and he was rewarded with the rebound goal.

Milan Lucic, who was scratched Saturday and played limited minutes Sunday, is getting a chance to earn back some of his coach’s trust. Only David Krejci saw more time in the first period among Bruins forwards, and Lucic has already played more than half of the minutes he played Sunday against Florida. The big forward is looking a little better, and he looks like he’s trying to throw his weight around some. He has two hits and a shot on goal so far.

End first period, 1-1: The first period comes to an end, and the game is tied 1-1. There’s plenty to go over, so I’ll be back in a few to do just that.

First period, 16:56, 1-1: The combination of Carl Soderberg, Jaromir Jagr and Chris Kelly has been a lot of fun to watch so far.

They obviously got the scoring going early on, but they’ve done a nice job of creating opportunities since then as well.

Interesting to note: Patrice Bergeron is 0-for-5 in the faceoff circle. No idea when the last time that happened, but it doesn’t happen very often.

First period, 14:48, 1-1: Gregory Campbell did not miss a shift, thanks in large part to the fact that he’s a hockey player.

First period, 10:51, 1-1: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty, thanks to a big blocked shot from Gregory Campbell.

The forward went to the ice to block a wicked Kurtis Foster slap shot from the left point, and he may have paid for it. Campbell struggled to get off the ice, and he couldn’t put much pressure at all on his left leg. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

First period, 6:43, 1-1: The first power play of the game goes to the Flyers.

Dougie Hamilton caught Brayden Schenn with a high stick, and he gets the minor penalty.

First period, 4:54, 1-1: Carl Soderberg is making an impact in his second game as well.

The big Swede just carried the puck into the neutral zone and into the attacking zone before he gave it away to Jaromir Jagr. Jagr put the shot on net, and Wade Redden of all people went to the net and batted home the rebound to tie the game 1-1.

First period, 1:40, Flyers 1-0: After a touching pregame ceremony, the Flyers no longer felt like being nice hosts.

The Flyers just took the early 1-0 lead when Scott Hartnell beat Anton Khudobin with a big-league wrist shot. That came with an assist to David Krejci, as the Bruins forward made a horrible turnover in his own end to give the puck right to Hartnell and he handled the rest.

7:2o p.m.: Pregame skate is wrapping up in Philadelphia, and it looks like Dougie Hamilton will be in the lineup for this one, after morning skate indicated he may not be.

It looks like Johnny Boychuk who will be the d-man who gets the night off instead. That also means that Adam McQuaid, who suffered a lower-body injury Saturday and missed Sunday’s game, will be back in the fold as well.

Here are the defensive pairings from pregame.

Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Wade Redden — Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference — Adam McQuaid

7:15 p.m.: By the way, I’m not sure if this was mentioned earlier (and if not, shame on me), but Nathan Horton won’t be in the lineup for this one. In fact, he didn’t even make the trip.

He’s still recovering from the upper-body injury he suffered Saturday against Pittsburgh in a fight with Jarome Iginla.

7 p.m.: It’s a homecoming of sorts for Jaromir Jagr as he returns to Philadelphia, while admittedly, Jagr homecomings happen in a fair amount of cities.

Jagr played in Philadelphia last season, and he played a major role. Jagr scored 19 goals and added 35 assists for what turned into a high-octane line alongside Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell. The trio was one of the best lines in all of hockey, and it may not be much of a surprise that Giroux and Hartnell have come back to earth some this year. That’s not to say that Jagr is the sole contributing factor of that, but it certainly played a part. It’s something he’s done everywhere in his career up to this point.

Interestingly, that really hasn’t happened yet in Boston. Of course, the circumstances are a little bit different. Jagr didn’t have a training camp to gel with his teammates, and he’s bounced around so much from line to line in the short time he’s been a Bruin. The fact that he’s skating alongside Carl Soderberg pretty much personifies those thoughts in the best way possible.

6:30 p.m.: The Flyers will honor the city of Boston and remember the victims of last week’s events prior to the game. That pregame ceremony will be aired on NESNplus, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m.

6:20 p.m.: Once again, the Bruins-Flyers can be seen on NESNplus. You can find your local listings for that by clicking here. Pregame coverage begins at 7.

4:40 p.m.: Veteran goalie Steve Mason, acquired at the trade deadline by the Flyers, will get the start against the Bruins.

He’s had some obvious struggles this season, but he’s been better since joining the Flyers, and he’s historically very good against the Bruins — albeit in a limited amount of work.

He’s 2-0-1 in three career starts against Boston, allowing just four goals on 98 shots. That’s good for a 1.30 goals against and a .959 save percentage.

4:30 p.m.: It looks as if the Flyers will be honoring the City of Boston on Tuesday night prior to and during the Bruins-Flyers game.

The Flyers are wearing these jersey patches, and according to Jack Edwards, the Flyers will also hold some sort of tribute ceremony prior to the game.

3:30 p.m.: Carl Soderberg saw time at morning skate at center between Chris Kelly and Jaromir Jagr, which is something the Bruins started doing Sunday afternoon.

The Swedish import, who made his Boston debut Saturday against Pittsburgh, started his NHL career on the wing. However, it looks like the B’s are more than willing to put Soderberg in the middle, which says a lot about him as a player.

It’s not easy to play center in the NHL, and it has to be even more difficult when you’re a player like Soderberg coming over from another continent and trying to adapt to a new style of play and a new rink. Soderberg mas “meh” on Saturday, but he looked a little better Sunday afternoon. He’s a big guy, and he’s strong on the puck, and that was rewarded with ice time. Soderberg saw 15:28 of ice time Sunday, which was more than a few Bruins forwards including Milan Luci, David Krejci and Rich Peverley. Brad Marchand played a hair more than Soderberg at 15:29.

There’s no doubt that the nature of Sunday’s game — a blowout against a bad hockey team — allowed the Bruins to give Soderberg some more rope.

He responded with his first career point while assisting on Jagr’s goal, and he also put a shot on net while going 2-for-4 in the faceoff circle.

“As far as Carl Soderberg was concerned, to me he was better [Sunday] than he was [Saturday],” Claude Julien said after Sunday’s game. “We put him at center [Sunday] and put Kelly on the wing. And you know, it’s for him to get used to playing on North American ice and this kind of a game. And you know, to me he’s made good strides in his first two games. So he’s got four more games again to get better, and hopefully he’s a very confident individual and he will be good for us.”

2:30 p.m.: The Bruins’ lines for morning skate appeared to be the same lines the B’s used Sunday afternoon against Florida.

Here’s how the B’s took line rushes during the skate, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Chris Kelly — Carl Soderberg — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

And here are defensive pairs as well.

Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowski — Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference — Adam McQuaid

2:20 p.m.: Just as a reminder, the Bruins are slated to be televised on NESNplus again tonight. If you’re looking for those listings, you find them by clicking here.

1:30 p.m.: According to reports from morning skate in Philadelphia, Anton Khudobin was the first Bruins goalie off the ice in morning skate, meaning he’ll likely get the start in Philly.

This should come as no surprise, either. Tuukka Rask surprisingly started both games this weekend in Boston, and Claude Julien did indicate over the weekend that he would be working in both goaltenders over the final week of the season. So with all of that in mind, it would certainly make sense to go with Khudobin in between the pipes for this one.

1 p.m.: Once again, the Bruins are staring a jam-packed schedule in the face, a four-game slate this week that will see their regular season come to an end.

The B’s begin that four-game stretch Tuesday night in Philadelphia where they will take on the lowly Flyers. It’s a part of a stretch of four games in six days for Boston, who has plenty of work to do before the regular season comes to an end Sunday night.

If you believe that that the standings still matter, and there’s a large pocket of people who feel it doesn’t matter as much this season, then you would also believe that this is a big week for the Bruins.

They enter play Tuesday in a virtual tie for first place in the Northeast Division with Montreal. Both clubs enter play with 59 points, and while the Canadiens hold a 24-23 advantage in regulation wins, the Bruins do have a game in hand.

That stretch does begin with a game in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, against a Flyers team that isn’t playing for anything but pride and jobs. That doesn’t necessarily mean success for the Bruins. Just a few weeks ago, they were embarrassed by the Flyers in Philadelphia in one of the Bruins’ worst games of the season.

Puck drop for this one is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Third period, 18:38, Bruins 3-0: That should do it, and the Bruins’ skid should be just about over.

Brad Marchand just added an empty-net goal to give Boston a 3-0 lead with a little more than a minute to play.

Third period, 17:30, Bruins 2-0: The Zdeno Chara penalty has been killed off.

Third period, 14:45, Bruins 2-0: Zdeno Chara looked to be a little shaken up after a collision with Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau. The Bruins captain got up slowly before skating off the ice. Adding insult to injury was the fact that Chara was called for interference, and he was forced to skate off to the penalty box.

The good news, of course is that Chara went to the box and not to the dressing room.

Third period, 11:26, Bruins 2-0: Honestly, there’s not a lot going on here in the third period, which is probably good news for the Bruins and their two-goal lead.

It’s worth noting that Jaromir Jagr is having a terrific game. He’s all over the place, and he’s creating chances for himself and his teammates. It’s also worth noting that he’s 41 years old and played 24 hours ago.

Third period, 6:06, Bruins 2-0: No score change here in the first few minutes of the third period, but Milan Lucic continues to be a focal point.

Upon checking the official event summary on NHL.com, I just noticed that Lucic is still being used sporadically in his return to the lineup. He’s got a team-low in ice time so far, but he’s starting to throw his weight around some.  He just delivered a big check to T.J. Brennan in the corner that led to a turnover and a scoring chance for the Bruins. That’s what you need out of him right now.

Third period, 0:40, Bruins 2-0: The third period is underway.

Second period reaction: That seemed to be a much more complete, full period from the Bruins in the second.

They were much more crisp with their passing, engaged in the physical game and doing the little things like going to the net during the middle period. It may not have paid off like they wanted it to with just a lone goal in the period, but it’s encouraging. Claude Julien talked earlier about his frustration with his club’s tendency to make opposing goalies look good as of late. So far, it’s been Jacob Markstrom who actually does look good, and he’s keeping Florida in this game, despite some improved offense from the Bruins. While they put 40 shots on net Saturday, not many of them were legitimate scoring chances. This game has featured many more actual chances, but Markstom has been there to make a few really big saves.

Milan Lucic played much better in the second period than he did in the first period, in my opinion. He looked more engaged physically, and he was moving his feet more. It’s a simple style of game, but it’s one that’s been nonexistent for the big forward far too many times this season. Now he needs to keep doing that and put it together for longer stretches of time. He almost had a goal in the second period, but Markstom denied his second-chance attempt with one of the better saves we’ve seen in this game.

End second period, Bruins 2-0: The second period is over, with the Bruins holding the 2-0 lead.

Second period, 19:00, Bruins 2-0: Nothing doing on the power play for the Bruins. In fact, it was a pretty forgettable power play, one of their ugliest in a while.

Second period, 16:32, Bruins 2-0: Jaromir Jagr is having another nice gaem, and he’s the reason the Bruins have a power play.

He just came out of the Boston zone with a head of steam and ended up being tripped by Filip Kuba, and the B’s go back on the man-advantage.

Second period, 15:04, Bruins 2-0: Milan Lucic has been better here in the second period, and he almost extended the lead to 3-0.

Lucic crashed the net and tried to put home the rebound of an Andrew Ference shot, but Jacob Markstom also turned away Lucic’s rebound bid after making the pad save on Ference.

Second period, 13:23, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins’ fourth line has been reunited this afternoon, and they have been arguably the best line for the B’s.

They were just on the ice for the second Boston goal and played a big  part as well. Dougie Hamilton scored, but his shot from the point was made possible by great hustle from Shawn Thornton who tipped the puck back to the point.

Second period, 11:10, Bruins 1-0: Tuukka Rask continues to play well in this one, despite a shaky moment a few minutes ago. Rask tried to glove a shot from the high point, but he couldn’t control it and dropped the puck. Luckily for the Bruins, Rask was also able to turn away the rebound attempt to keep the B’s lead intact.

Second period, 7:51, Bruins 1-0: The Panthers just registered their first shot of the period, with the Bruins outshooting them 10-1 here in the second.

Second period, 7:35, Bruins 1-0: The power play comes to an end without a goal for the Bruins, but they kept the pressure on and may get some momentum out of the man-advantage.

That is a very good sign, but they must continue to sustain that.

Second period, 5:18, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins look like someone lit a fire under them, and they have come out strong here in the second period.

The hard work paid off as they get a power play after Jonathan Huberdeau gets a hooking penalty.

Second period, 3:33, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the Rich Peverley slashing penalty, which is good news considering how their penalty kill has looked as of late.

Second period, 0:01, Bruins 1-0: The second period is underway with the Bruins attempting to kill off what’s left of Rich Peverley’s penalty.

First period reaction: It was obviously good for the Bruins to get that early goal, but they didn’t have much to show for after that.

It was a good, quick start for a Bruins team that might have come out looking tired given the long week and the quick turnaround. However, they were on the Panthers in the early going, and that culminated with the Jaromir Jagr goal. However, the Bruins kind of fell back to earth after that, and they weren’t very impressive. They managed only seven shots on goal, and they look like they’re having some real issues moving the puck, especially out of their own zone and into the neutral zone. That all amounted to six Bruins turnovers in the first period.

Tuukka Rask was a bright spot for the Bruins in the first period. His save on Drew Shore was one of the best we’ve seen the Boston goalie make as of late, and he made a couple of other real nice pad saves to ensure the B’s held onto the lead through the first period. Rask stopped all 10 shots he faced in the first period.

End first period, Bruins 1-0: The first period comes to an end with the Bruins holding the 1-0 lead. They will have to kill off 47 seconds of the Rich Peverley penalty when play resumes in the second.

First period, 18:47, Bruins 1-0: Florida will get the first power play of the afternoon.

Rich Peverley was just given a slashing minor.

First period, 14:46, Bruins 1-0: It should be a 1-1 game, but Tuukka Rask made his save of the game.

The Bruins goalie robbed Drew Shore on a point-blank chance from just in front of the net. Rask got his left pad out to make the save.

First period, 10:53, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins have started to slow some here in the first period, and they’re starting to look a little sloppy and disjointed.

Luckily for them, the Panthers aren’t really making them pay.

I’ve spent a lot of time watching Milan Lucic in the first period, and I’ve got to say, he hasn’t really done anything that impressive. He’s just kind of out there so far, and he did have a giveaway in the Florida zone a few shifts ago.

First period, 7:43, Bruins 1-0: More of the same from the Bruins here in the early going. The B’s are doing a good job of putting the pressure on the Panthers, but they still only have the one goal to show for.

They came close to adding a second one when Brad Marchand tipped a shot in front, and then couldn’t backhome the rebound off of the Jacob Markstrom save.

The Bruins only have three registered shots on goal, but they are doing a pretty good job of forechecking and making it difficult for Florida to get anything going the other way.

First  period, 3:03, Bruins 1-0: We’re still in the middle of a delay as some work is done on the glass, which some rambunctious fan must have jarred loose in the goal celebration.

First period, 3:03, Bruins 1-0: That was arguably Jaromir Jagr’s best shift as a Bruin, and the B’s take an early lead.

Jagr ended up stealing the puck twice from a Panthers defenseman, and on the second one, he beat Jacob Markstrom with a devastating wrist shot from the slot to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

First period, 0:01, 0-0: The game is underway with the Bruins starting with the fourth line.

12:20 p.m.: If you’re looking for the Bruins game on NESN, you’re not going to find it unfortunately. Instead, you’ll have to switch on over to NESNplus. You can find your local NESNplus listings by clicking here.

12:15 p.m.: Forgot to mention this earlier, but the Panthers did a nice job of honoring Boston in their trip to the Hub. The Panthers wore “Boston Strong” T-shirts before hitting the ice for pregame warmups, and when they did come out for warmups, they had Boston Police Department hats on.

12:13 p.m.: Pregame warmups are wrapping up at the moment, and this is how the Bruins will roll their lines, according to said pregame warmups.

Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Rich Peverley
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton

It also looks like Wade Redden will be reinserted to the Bruins’ lineup in place of Matt Bartkowski.

12 p.m.: Here’s something a little interesting and surprising given the fact the Bruins played 24 hours ago. Tuukka Rask, who started Saturday’s game, led the Bruins out for pregame warmups. That would seem to indicate he’s the starting goalie for this one as well.

Jacob Markstrom will get the start for the Panthers.

11:35 a.m.: We just returned up to Level 9 at the Garden after taking in Claude Julien’s pregame media session.

The big news is that both Adam McQuaid and Nathan Horton will not play in this one. Both players are being listed as day-to-day, with McQuaid suffering from a lower-body injury and Horton dealing with an upper-body injury.

Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton, who were both scratched for Saturday’s game, will return to the lineup against the Panthers.

This is obviously a big (and perhaps unexpected) chance for Lucic. He’s supposed to be a big part of this team, and just as important as finally sitting him down was, it will be even more important to see how he responds when he returns in this one. There’s really no excuse at this point for him not to come out and play fired-up hockey. Julien has plenty of options up front, and maybe we’re looking at a possibility of Lucic sitting in the playoffs, especially if Horton is healthy. This is a big day for No. 17.

11 a.m.: Welcome back into TD Garden where we’re about 90 minutes from puck drop for Bruins-Panthers. A long (shortened) season gets even busier, as the B’s wrap up what is their first of two back-to-backs in the following week.

Boston was supposed to be done with back-to-backs, but due to unforeseen circumstances surrounding last week’s tragic events, the Bruins were forced to schedule a pair of back-to-backs. The next back-to-back will come next weekend when the Bruins are in Washington on Saturday night before returning home to take on Ottawa on Sunday night in the season finale.

9 a.m.: As the Bruins will surely tell you, there truly is no rest for the weary. The B’s, who are 0-3-1 in their last four, have another short turnaround as they prepare to take on the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon.

Boston was originally scheduled to have Saturday off, but given Friday’s events in the Boston area, that game was postponed until Saturday afternoon. That means another back-to-back for the B’s who are coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Saturday afternoon.

It’s unfortunate timing for the Bruins in particular, as they’re trying to get some things straightened out before the playoffs. The postseason is just a week away, and Boston is still trying to find some consistency. They will have undoubtedly have a chance to work on some things in the coming game, with Sunday’s game beginning a three-game stretch against the Eastern Conference’s also-rans in Florida, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

Once again, however, the lineup may be up in the air. Nathan Horton left Saturday’s game early with an apparent injury. Claude Julien offered no update following the game, but we should obviously know more by Sunday. If Horton can’t go, that might open the door for Milan Lucic to return to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch Saturday afternoon.

Puck drop from the Garden is slated for 12:30 p.m.

Third period, 19:14, Penguins 3-1: The Bruins just took their timeout, as they try to get something going in the final minute. Their work is cut out for them, of course, trailing by two with less than a minute to play.

Third period, 18:50, Penguins 3-1: The Bruins’ net is empty.

Third period, 16:02, Penguins 3-1: Brad Marchand has been clearly agitated all day, and it might be costing the Bruins a little bit.

He just picked up yet another penalty, this one for slashing. At least he’s taking someone with him. Joe Vitale is called for slashing as well, and both men head to the box.

Third period, 14:00, Penguins 3-1: A “Let’s go Bruins” chant has taken over a couple sections of the balcony, but the B’s need a little more than that right now.

Boston is running out of time, and they appear to be running out of steam. The puck possession continues, but shots are at a minimum with Pittsburgh tightening up in its own zone.

Third period, 8:29, Penguins 3-1: Matt Bartkowski’s trip to the penalty box was short-lived, thanks to Kris Letang.

The Pittsburgh defenseman just ripped a wrist shot by Tuukka Rask from the left point, and the Penguins now have the 3-1 lead.

Third period, 8:17, Penguins 2-1: The Boston penalty kill has to be called on again. Matt Bartkowski just got called for a high-sticking minor.

Third period, 8:01, Penguins 2-1: The Bruins continue to pepper Tomas Vokoun with shots, but the Pittsburgh goalie continues to turn them aside.

Vokoun now has 32 saves, including four here in the third period, and he’s a big reason the Pens have the one-goal lead.

Third period, 4:43, Penguins 2-1: Jarome Iginla continues to get booed every time he touches the puck, and that’s only going to intensify now. The Penguins forward just scored on the power play with a shot from the point that got by Tuukka Rask thanks in large part to a screen in front from Chris Kunitz.

Third period, 3:25, 1-1: Brad Marchand really, really wanted to fight Jussi Jokinen. Unfortunately for Marchand, Jokinen didn’t really seem cool with that plan.

For some reason, Marchand went after Jokinen after the whistle. Marchand dropped his gloves, but Jokinen was having none of it. Instead, Marhcand gets a minor for roughing.

Third period, 2:05, 1-1: The penalty has been killed, and the Bruins are back to even strength.

Third period, 0:01, 1-1: The third period is underway here at the Garden with two teams tied 1-1. They’ll have to kill off 1:15 of Jaromir Jagr’s penalty.

Second period reaction: All in all, this has been a pretty entertaining hockey game, with plenty of scoring chances and even more hitting.

The two teams, two of the best in the league, have brought their most physical game so far. They’ve combined for 49 hits through the first two periods,  and while the hits stat is sometimes unreliable, those figures seem pretty spot-on.

The Bruins should definitely have a lead at this point, but once again, they haven’t been able to cash in on an abundance of scoring chances. There was one really impressive flurry of shots and chances midway through the second, but Tomas Vokoun did his job, and the B’s couldn’t do theirs.

Once again, it’s another fine performance from the Patrice Bergeron line. They have been all over the place, and they have had the puck on their sticks all afternoon. Bergeron is 14-for-19 in the faceoff circle so far, so that helps just a little. Tyler Seguin has three shots on goal, as does Brad Marchand. A lot of jump from them so far.

End second period, 1-1: The second period comes to a close with the game tied 1-1. The Bruins will have to kill off 1:15 of Jaromir Jagr’s hooking penalty once the third period begins.

Second period, 19:15, 1-1: The Bruins weren’t able to do anything with their abbreviated power play, and they give Pittsburgh another power play before the period ends for good measure.

Jaromir Jagr was caught hooking Craig Adams in the neutral zone, and Jagr will sit for the next two minutes of play.

Second period, 17:10, 1-1: Once again, a Pittsburgh power play is stymied by a Pittsburgh penalty.

Jussi Jokinen just picked up a cross-checking penalty, and that will give us 4-on-4 hockey for the next minute or so.

Second period, 16:15, 1-1: Things are starting to get testy here at the Garden.

Matt Cooke just delivered a somewhat questionable (possibly low?) hit on Adam McQuaid that left the Bruins defenseman in a bad way right in front of the Boston bench.

As McQuaid struggled to get off the ice, Zdeno Chara went right after Cooke up along the boards in the Boston end. Cooke quickly turtled, and that was that. Chara ended up getting two minutes for roughing, though.

Second period, 13:20, 1-1: Now it’s time for the Bruins to attempt another penalty kill, as Rich Peverley is called for high-sticking.

Second period, 12:51, 1-1: The “Team X has done everything but score” is kind of a tired cliche, but the Bruins just did everything but score.

Boston was just relentless for about three or four minutes, just bringing it wave after wave against Pittsburgh, but they just couldn’t cash in. It looked like the Bruins had finally scored, when a puck was jammed home in front, but the goal was waved off as a relatively quick whistle ended the play just a fraction of a second earlier.

Second period, 7:15, 1-1: So far, a good response from the Bruins after the Pittsburgh goal. Shawn Thornton came close to scoring from the point, but the puck (maybe tipped) wobbled wide.

Second period, 5:10, 1-1: The Bruins have been dominating much of the game, but they’re not taking advantage of their chances.

The Penguins just got a rare chance, and they capitalized. Jussi Jokinen got to the front of the net, and he flipped a backhanded rebound attempt by Tuukka Rask after the Bruins goalie made a save on a Matt Niskanen shot from the point.

First period reaction: It’s been a busy intermission, so I won’t be able to get into a bunch of reaction.

First, some news. Nathan Horton won’t return to the game, the Bruins announced. Horton appeared to be favoring his hand after fighting Jarome Iginla there in the first.

However, the Bruins looked very good in that first period. They dominated, really. They controlled the puck in the Pittsburgh end, and they made life difficult for the Pens. Perhaps most encouragingly is the fact that Boston actually cashed in. They still need to do a better job of that, but maybe Brad Marchand’s power-play goal will jumpstart that. We’ll see.

End first period, Bruins 1-0: The first period has come to a close with the B’s holding the 1-0 lead.

First period, 19:01, Bruins 1-0: That didn’t last long.

Matt Niskanen’s interference penalty negates the Penguins’ power play just a few seconds into the power play.

First period, 18:38, Bruins 1-0: The Penguins are going to get their first power play of the game.

Carl Soderberg gets his first career penalty for hooking, and the B’s will be shorthanded.

First period, 17:56, Bruins 1-0: Jarome Iginla is Public Enemy No. 1 in this city now, and Nathan Horton just tried to take him down.

Horton did that, as the two dropped the gloves in what was a pretty anticlimatic fight.

First period, 17:35, Bruins 1-0: Boston could not convert on their second power play of the afternoon, but they continue to control the pace of the play and establish possession.

First period, 14:04, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are about to go back on the power play where they look for similar success to their first man advantage.

Tyler Kennedy was found guilty of slashing, and he’s off to the box.

First period, 10:18, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins do indeed cash in on the power play.

Brad Marchand carried the puck into the Pittsburgh zone and beat Tomas Vokoun to give the B’s a 1-0 lead.

First period, 9:31, 0-0: The Bruins get the game’s first power play. Matt Cooke was called for slashing, and he just arrived in the penalty box for a two-minute stay.

First period, 10:11, 0-0: As if the Bruins and their fans needed anything else to get them going, we just had our first fight of the afternoon.

Adam McQuaid and Tanner Glass just dropped the gloves in the Boston zone, and engaged in a pretty lengthy bout. You definitely have to give the edge to Glass there, though.

First period, 6:22, 0-0: The Bruins have been incredibly sharp in the first few minutes, something they couldn’t have said Wednesday night in a game that also featured an emotional beginning.

Carl Soderberg has made his Bruins debut. He’s skated two shifts thus far, and there’s not much to report there.

Jarome Iginla has also been on the ice for a few shifts, and he is being booed every time he touches the puck. Bruins fans haven’t forgotten that one yet.

First period, 4:04, 0-0: The Bruins are all over the Penguins in the early going. The Patrice Bergeron line just turned in a relentless shift, and the B’s are outshooting Pittsburgh 7-2 already.

12:39 p.m.: Once again, another powerful anthem and pregame ceremony. It’s time to play hockey, and the game is underway.

12:27 p.m.: The Bruins and Penguins game is on NESNplus today. Find your listings here.

12:25 p.m.: The Bruins make it official. Milan Lucic is a healthy scratch.

12:10 p.m.: Things are hectic as ever here, but this is what’s gone down so far.

The Bruins just wrapped up pregame warmups. In a pretty cool gesture, they all wore first responder hats during the warmups. They donned Boston Police, Watertown Police and Massachusetts State Police caps, which was awesome.

Milan Lucic was not on the ice for pregame warmups, indicating he’ll be a healthy scratch.

Here are the line combos.

Daniel Paille — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Tyler Seguin
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Jaromir Jagr
Gregory Campbell — Rich Peverley — Shawn Thornton

11:40 a.m.: Bruins coach Claude Julien spoke to the media for about five minutes, and it was clear that he’s still affected by what’s gone on this week.

Julien said that he spent all day Friday just like everyone else, as he admitted he was glued to the TV as the manhunt ensued in the Boston area.

Here are some of his thoughts: “Same as everybody else. When those things happen in your city, it’s a normal thing to be a little bit concerned and like everybody else extremely happy when they finally found the second suspect. At least we can breathe a little eaiser and sleep a little easier. Now it’s hopefully time to work ourselves into trying to get things back to normal again. It will always leave a scar somewhere, and there’s some damage done, but now we have a job to do today and that unfortunately is what our responsibility is.”

11 a.m.: It really does sound like Milan Lucic will be a healthy scratch for the Bruins in this one. According to ESPN.com’s Joe McDonald, Lucic was among a handful of players who skated this morning, likely indicating he’s got the day off.

10:40 a.m.: According to Pittsburgh reporters, it will be Tomas Vokoun in net for the Penguins in this one. Claude Julien is scheduled to meet with the media at 11:20, so we’ll find out who’s going to be between the pipes for Boston. My guess is that it would be Tuukka Rask, with Anton Khudobin getting Sunday’s start, but again, what do I know?

10:30 a.m.: Good morning from a quiet TD Garden, that’s about to be a loud TD Garden in just about two hours.

Just wanted to pass along one quick story before we get into pressing hockey maters. As I was walking into the arena this morning through North Station, I saw a middle-aged couple wearing Penguins jerseys mingling with a couple of Massachusetts State Police troopers. As I walked by them, the couple was thanking the troopers and shaking their hands.

“Thank you so much for all you do and good job,” the woman said.

It was pretty awesome to say the least.

8 a.m. ET: Well, then. It’s hard to imagine that we can try and get back to normalcy so quickly, but a little more than 12 hours after Boston’s finest did their job in the best way possible, we get back to pro sports. We do that first with the Bruins.

A few days after an emotionally charged game against Buffalo and a day after one of the craziest days in the history of this fine city, the Bruins are back at TD Garden, and they will have their work cut out for them. The conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins are in town for a game that’s been circled on the calendar for a while now.

Pittsburgh’s trip to the Garden means it will be Bruins fans’ first chance to see future Hall of Fame forward Jarome Iginla in a Penguins sweater. Iginla was expected by many to be on his way to Boston in the days leading up to the trade deadline, but the forward instead opted to go to Pittsburgh over Boston.

The Bruins have plenty of on-ice issues to take care of, too. One place they’ll look to improve upon is on the penalty kill. Boston’s PK unit has been terrific this season for much of the year, but they’ve hit a bump in the road lately. They’ve allowed two power-play goals in each of their last two games. That won’t get any easier when the Penguins and their second-ranked power play take the ice Saturday. It’s worth noting, however, that Pittsburgh has had injuries, with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin missing time of late.

The game may also mark a night off for Milan Lucic. The big forward was on the “fifth line” at practice Thursday, and Claude Julien said there’s a chance Lucic will be a healthy scratch. There’s also a good chance that Carl Soderberg will make his long-awaited Bruins debut, which won’t help Lucic’s case to be in the lineup.

There’s plenty to keep an eye on, and we’ll keep you updated throughout the day leading up to puck drop at 12:30 p.m.

Shootout, Sabres 1-0: 

Sabres win 3-2

First round:

Tyler Seguin stopped by Ryan Miller
Thomas Vanek stopped by Anton Khudobin

Second round:

Patrice Bergeron stopped by Ryan Miller
Nathan Gerbe stopped by Anton Khudobin

Third round:

Brad Marchand stopped by Ryan Miller
Drew Stafford scores

Sabres win.

End overtime, 2-2: The Bruins were given a power play with just 3.7 seconds to play, but they were unable to score before the final buzzer. That means this is going to a shootout. It will be the first of Anton Khudobin’s career.

Overtime, 3:50, 2-2: Anton Khudobin made two big saves to begin the overtime period, including a game-saver against Thomas Vanek.

Overtime, 0:01, 2-2: Overtime is underway here at the Garden.

Third period, 19:33, 2-2: Just like that, the party has been spoiled — for now at least.

Thomas Vanek just throws the puck at the net, and it’s tipped home by Cody Hodgson. What a gut punch for the Bruins.

Third period, 19:12, Bruins 2-1: Andrew Ference, just moments after his game-saving save, is going to the penalty box.

The defenseman was whistled for delay of game, and the Bruins will have to fight and claw for this win.

Third period, 19:00, Bruins 2-1:  Andrew Ference just made a brilliant play as he went sliding through the Boston crease to rob a goal behind Anton Khudobin.

The Buffalo net is empty.

Third period, 11:31, Bruins 2-1: More of the same in the last few minutes from the Bruins, thanks in large part to the play of the Patrice Bergeron line.

The boys are back together, and Bergeron along with Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand, have had themselves a game. They just had another scoring chance, this time a wrist shot from Seguin in the slot, but Ryan Miller made the glove save.

Third period, 9:57, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins used their penalty kill to swing games on multiple occasions earlier in the season, and they just got another one of those game-changing kills.

The B’s killed off Milan Lucic’s four-minute penalty in impressive fashion, using nothing but hard work and hustle. The PK once again generated chances for Boston, with Daniel Paille (who else) getting after loose pucks in the Buffalo zone.

The Bruins are really starting to outclass and outmuscle the Sabres in the third, and they’ve outshot Buffalo 13-5 in the final period.

Third period, 4:57, Bruins 2-1: Yet again, the Bruins will have to kill a penalty.

Milan Lucic was called for high-sticking, and it’s a double-minor. The B’s have their work cut out for them.

Third period, 4:14, Bruins 2-1: The Sabres couldn’t score on the power play. In fact, they didn’t come close.

The Bruins did, though, when Daniel Paille got loose on a breakaway. He used his speed to get separation, but he couldn’t quite find the finishing touch, and Ryan Miller sprawled to make the save to keep out the shorthanded bid.

Third period, 0:49, Bruins 2-1: Patrice Bergeron has been one of the Bruins’ best players in this one, but they’ll be without him for the next two minutes.

The center was just called for hooking, and the Bruins have a power play to kill here early in the third.

Third period, 0:01, Bruins 2-1: The third period is underway with the Bruins looking to hold on to this lead.

Second period reaction: The second period was just about as good as the first period was for the Bruins, and they can say they have the lead through 40 minutes.

After everyone got the emotional stuff out of the way and was able to start really focusing on hockey, we saw play start to pick up in the second. Things got noticeably chippier and more physical on both sides, and it started to look like a game between two teams that really don’t seem to like each other very much. After delivering just five hits in the first period, the Bruins bit back in the second with nine hits and really upped the physical ante. They also showed no fear in defending one another, as Zdeno Chara went after Pat Kaleta at one point, while Gregory Campbell and Dennis Seidenberg both stood up for Jaromir Jagr after the forward was bullied by John Scott.

The Bruins’ line of Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly and Nathan Horton has been their best of the night. The trio has looked sharp and fast, and they have accounted for both Bruins goals. They’ve been gritty goals, too, with Kelly working hard to feed Paille in the first and with Kelly showing no quit in eventually stuffing home Boston’s second goal.

End second period, Bruins 2-1: The second period started a little slow and a little sloppy, but things got pretty entertaining — especially if you’re a Bruins fan.

The B’s take the 2-1 lead into the dressing room. We’ll have some more in a few minutes.

Second period, 14:48, Bruins 2-1: Chris Kelly continues to impress in his return to the Bruins lineup, and he just gave the B’s the lead.

Kelly jammed home a puck in front of the net to score a gritty goal by just outworking Christian Erhoff. The score puts the B’s back on top 2-1.

Second period, 14:01, 1-1: Things are really picking up in the nasty department. After a whistle, it was John Scott who went after Jaromir Jagr of all people. That happened right in front of the Boston bench. So, as you might expect, it didn’t go over that well. Some pushing and shoving ensued, and that was that.

Second period, 12:19, 1-1: The physical intensity of this game is definitely starting to pick up here in the second period. Unsurprisingly, Brad Marchand finds himself in the middle of a lot of the extra stuff, and he seems unafraid to mix it up after the whistle, despite playing in his first game since suffering a concussion.

Second period, 10:20, 1-1: Sorry for the lack of updates, but we just had some nonstop, end-to-end action that didn’t lend much time to update.

Anyway, the Sabres came out playing pretty sharp hockey in the second period, and they looked to be controlling the pace. However, behind a crowd that’s willing them back to better play, the Bruins have responded.

They had a fine chance when Jaromir Jagr hit Brad Marchand with a gorgeous pass through the neutral zone, but Marchand was stopped by Ryan Miller while also being slowed some by the Buffalo defense.

Both Marchand and Patrice Bergeron look very good in their returns to the lineup.

Second period, 0:05, 1-1: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: Let me start by saying that the pregame ceremony was done perfectly. It was understated, but strong. It was poignant and also galvanizing. It was just terrific, and it obviously hit a high point when this sellout crowd took over for Rene Rancourt and belted out the national anthem. It was a truly unforgettable moment that those who saw it both live and on TV will never forget.

The game started off pretty sloppy, which was to be expected. Both teams were likely full of emotion and likely jitters, and it showed with some uneven play. The Bruins got on the board first with some great forechecking and a gorgeous centering pass from Chris Kelly who fed Daniel Paille and he put it by Ryan Miller.

From there, though, Miller was really good. The Bruins tested him early and often with 12 first-period shots, which Miller stopped 11. The Bruins’ top two lines looked to be clicking. The reunion of Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron combined for a few scoring opportunities and four shots on goal. Bergeron doesn’t look to have missed a step. He’s a perfect 5-for-5 in the faceoff circle and he’s already logged 6:17 of ice time. David Krejci, who is also skating with new linemates in Gregory Campbell and Jaromir Jagr, has also been impressive in the circle, winning all three draws he’s taken. That line had a couple of scoring chances of their own, the best coming when Jagr passed a puck through the slot to Krejci who couldn’t quite gain control of the puck.

End first period, 1-1: An emotional first period comes to an end with the game tied 1-1 here at the Garden.

We’ll try to break it down in just a few minutes.

First period, 18:20, 1-1: The Sabres have tied the game, and of course, it was Thomas Vanek.

The longtime Bruins nemesis scored on the power play when he tipped in a Christian Erhoff shot from the point.

First period, 17:44, Bruins 1-0: Boston’s penalty kill must do it again just a few minutes later.

This time, it’s Zdeno Chara going for interference.

First period, 15:17, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty, and as they had earlier in the season, they appeared to get a jump from the kill.

That led directly to a pair of chances for Chris Kelly who was once again fantastic on the PK. He’s been great since he returned.

First period, 12:53, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins’ power play didn’t produce much of anything, as they struggled to control the puck in the Buffalo zone.

The Bruins will actually have to kill off a penalty of their own now. Brad Marchand was called for a very suspect tripping call, meaning the Boston penalty kill goes to work for the first time. That unit will be happy to get Patrice Bergeron back after a suspect showing Saturday night at Carolina.

First period, 8:43, Bruins 1-0: It is not a good night to be the Buffalo Sabres. This building is rocking, and it keeps getting louder.

It may really go nuts if the Bruins score on the power play they’re about to go on. Jochen Hecht gets called for slashing, and the first power play belongs to Boston.

First period, 5:45, Bruins 1-0: Annnnd TD Garden just erupted.

The Bruins get on the board first when Daniel Paille scores on a pass from Chris Kelly to give the B’s a 1-0 lead just a few minutes into play.

First period, 0:10, 0-0: The game is under way after one of the most unforgettable pregame scenes you will ever see.

7:15 p.m.: There is a hockey game to be played tonight as well. The Bruins need just one point to clinch a playoff spot. There’s also a chance the B’s end the night in first place as well. Montreal is playing right now in Pittsburgh, and Boston sits just one point behind the Canadiens, so a Bruins win and a Canadiens regulation loss would propel the B’s into first place with a game in hand as well.

7:10 p.m.: The Bruins’ lines look to be the same as they were in morning skate.

The highlights of those lines include Milan Lucic skating on the “fourth line” while Nathan Horton goes to the “third line.” Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron return to the lineup alongside their old buddy Tyler Seguin. And David Krejci gets to skate alongside countryman Jaromir Jagr as well as Gregory Campbell.

7 p.m.: The Bruins and Sabres have taken the ice for pregame warmups. Anton Khudobin will get the start for Boston, while Ryan Miller will go for Buffalo.

The Bruins usually take the ice for pregame warmups to a Kanye West song. Tonight, they came out to the Dropkick Murphys’ “State of Massachusetts” instead.

6:50 p.m.: As mentioned earlier, the Garden doors have opened, and fans are filing in at a pretty good rate.

I’ve already seen a handful of American flags as well as countless signs. Some have opted for a combination of both holding flags reading things like “Believe in Boston” or similar sayings.

6:45 p.m.: Garden organist Ron Poster just wrapped up his version of The Standells’ “Dirty Water” which is the song both the Red Sox and Bruins play after winning a game. It’s obviously a staple in the city, and I’ve got to think it won’t be the last time we hear it on this evening, regardless of whether the Bruins win or lose.

6:30 p.m.: The gates have opened, later than normal with the 7:30 start, and plenty of fans have already filed in. It seems like there’s more fans in here an hour before puck drop than usual. You have to imagine that has a lot to do with folks taking it a little safer as to avoid the long security lines outside.

Forgot to mention this earlier, but the Bruins will also make a sizable donation to the Marathon tragedy victims. You can read more about all of those donations by clicking here.

5:40 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to TD Garden. Security was admittedly beefed up on the way into the arena, which was to be expected. In fact, it’s a welcomed sight. If you’re heading in for the game, hopefully you’re reading this from your phone while waiting in line to get in, as it’s going to take a little while longer than normal to enter. That’s likely fine by everyone.

The Bruins and TD Garden certainly have the Boston Marathon victims on their mind tonight. As I type, they’re putting the finishing touches on some of the new board stickers in the corners of the rink. The stickers feature the website OneFundBoston.org, and also have the blue and yellow ribbon to remember the Marathon.

That’s not all, either. The Garden scoreboard was bordered by blue and yellow ribbons a  little earlier, as were the message boards that wrap around the entire arena. You can see what I mean by clicking here.

Members of the Bruins and TD Garden staffs are all wearing blue and yellow ribbons as well.

In terms of pregame ceremonies, all we really know at this point is that the Bruins will show a video montage as a tribute before Rene Rancourt sings the national anthem. That’s going to be one of the best anthems you’ll ever hear, so be sure you don’t miss that.

As a reminder, NESN will not be broadcasting the game. Unfortunately, this was one of the games NBC Sports has taken, and they’ll have coverage of this one instead.

3 p.m.: Here’s a quick programming reminder. The Bruins and Sabres will not be seen on NESN tonight. Unfortunately, it’s a national broadcast that you’ll be able to see on NBC Sports Network.

2:20 p.m.: Here’s a little bit of good news to help you along during your Wednesday.

The Bruins just announced that they, along with the NHL, NHLPA and TD Garden will combine to donate $250,000 to The One Fund, a charity raising money for the victims and their families of Monday’s tragic events.

The Bruins also announced that winger Brad Marchand will put suite tickets for the first Bruins playoff game up for raffle. The proceeds will go to the Richard family, who lost 8-year-old Martin in Monday’s attacks.

2 p.m.: Wade Redden, who the Bruins acquired on trade deadline day, will be in the B’s lineup for the first time Wednesday. Boston coach Claude Julien confirmed that as well Wednesday morning.

We don’t have any news on the starting goalie, however. Both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin left the ice during morning skate at about the same time.

“He’s at our end,” Julien joked when asked about which goaltender would be the starter against the Sabres.

1:55 p.m.: There’s a ton going on yet again, but first a couple of lineup changes to pass along.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien informed the media a little earlier that both Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron will be in the lineup for this game. Both have been out recently with concussions. For Bergeron, it will be his first game since April 2, while Marchand will be back in the lineup for the first time since April 10.

10:57 a.m.: Brad Marchand was spotted with Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin at morning skate. Milan Lucic was skating with Shawn Thornton and Rich Peverley. Check out the rest of the lines here. –JB

10 a.m. ET: We’ll never forget, but we do have to try and move on at some point. The City of Boston will continue to try and do that Wednesday night when professional sports return to The Hub for the first time since Monday’s attacks at the Boston Marathon.

The Bruins rightfully postponed Monday night’s scheduled tilt with the Ottawa Senators, but they’ll get back to work Wednesday night when Buffalo  comes to town. The Bruins spoke about the impact Monday’s horrific events had on them, but the club also talked about how they know they can play a role in the healing process.

“We have to go out there and do our jobs,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after practice Tuesday. “You want to show people you are proud to represent this city.”

Wednesday night’s game won’t undo what happened Monday, but hopefully for a few hours at least, it offers some sort of temporary refuge for Boston sports fans. With that being said, there is still plenty at stake for the B’s once they hit the ice.

The B’s are still hoping to clinch a playoff spot, and they can do that with just one point Wednesday night. Luckily for the Bruins, they’re starting to get healthy as the regular season winds down. There’s a good chance Patrice Bergeron will be back in the lineup Wednesday for the B’s. All the club was waiting for Monday before clearing the center was the final go-ahead from the team doctors.

Puck drop from what’s expected to be an emotional, heavy-hearted and likely very loud TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m.

4:30 p.m.: As of 4:30, there’s no official word on whether or not there will be a hockey game tonight.

3:30 p.m.: As you may or may not know by now, there was an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon this afternoon.

Details are starting to trickle in, and it is obviously a horrific scene in downtown Boston. We have no idea whether or not the Bruins will play tonight, but that’s obviously way down on the list in terms of priorities right now.

You can get updated with live updates all afternoon and into the night by following our coverage right here.

2:05 p.m.: Claude Julien also spoke about how he’ll use Carl Soderberg once the Swedish forward joins the club. See what the Bruins head coach had to say by clicking here.

1:35 p.m.: Also on the lineup front, it sounds like Dougie Hamilton will return to the Bruins’ lineup against Ottawa. Actually, that’s exactly what will happen; Claude Julien confirmed it following the morning skate.

Hamilton will return after a two-game break, and he’ll take the place of veteran blue liner Andrew Ference who will get a breather himself. It’s something that we’ll likely see more and more of down the stretch here for the Bruins in their stretch run as they try to get rested and healthy.

“We’re going to rotate some players in and out here from here on in,” Claude Julien said. “We decided to make that decision no matter what, so [Andrew] Ference will be the one sitting out tonight.”

1:25 p.m.: Patrice Bergeron could be back in the lineup Monday night against Ottawa.

The Bruins center skated this morning at morning skate, and sounds like he’s just about ready to return. Bruins coach Claude Julien informed the media that there’s a chance Bergeron could return for this one, and that’s essentially pending the OK from the B’s medical staff.

“Yeah, it’s just making sure we’re all on the same page here,” Julien answered when asked if Bergeron’s status was just contingent upon being cleared medically. “He’s been feeling a lot better for the last few days and seems to be, obviously, doing extremely well. But when you’ve been through what Patrice has been through, we’re always going to make sure we’re extra safe with him, even if it take some extra time we’re willing to do that.”

11 a.m.: The Bruins are in a bad way right now, but they’ve got a week of games at home to right the ship starting Monday with Ottawa. More importantly, however, is the fact that they’re starting to get healthy.

Boston returns home after a highly disappointing loss to the lowly Carolina Hurricanes where they’ll host the Senators on Monday night in the first of four consecutive home games this week.

At the team’s morning skate, the Bruins got a couple of positives, as both Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand were back on the ice. Bergeron, who is suffering from a concussion, has been on the ice at practice for a few days, and he may be back in the lineup Monday night. He took shifts at morning skate centering a line with Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic, so we might see that trio out there again in a few hours.

Marchand, who is also recovering from a concussion, returned to the ice for the first time since suffering the injury last week against New Jersey. He also took part in line rushes hopping in alongside Jay Pandolfo and Jordan Caron.

No matter who’s in there for the Bruins in this one, they need to turn things around. There’s less than two weeks before the regular season ends, and the B’s are playing their worst hockey of the season. Getting going against another likely playoff team in Ottawa would be a nice start for Boston.

Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Jiri Tlusty just scored the empty-net goal to give the Hurricanes a two-goal lead with only 28.1 seconds to play.

Third period, 17:00, Hurricanes 3-2: Jaromir Jagr has been the Bruins’ best player in this game, and he has 13 shots attempted to prove it. However, he hasn’t been able to solve Justin Peters, including a recent flurry of shots. The Canes goalie stopped them all, though, preserving the lead for now.

Third period, 14:41, Hurricanes 3-2: Justin Peters was pulled early in his start Monday against the Bruins, but he’s been much, much better in this one.

The Carolina goalie just made a clutch shoulder save on Tyler Seguin after the Bruins forward put a short-range one-timer on net after a centering feed from David Krejci.

The Bruins are starting to run out of time. Duh.

Third period, 13:26, Hurricanes 3-2: Milan Lucic looked good for the first period and into the second, but he’s starting to look like the player he’s been in the last four or five weeks, and that’s not good. Lucic has four giveaways in this one, and he’s been a relative nonfactor since early in the second.

He’s not alone. Nathan Horton has just one shot so far.

Third period, 9:26, Hurricanes 3-2: Naturally, it’s Joe Corvo who gives the Hurricanes the lead.

The former Bruins defenseman just scored on a one-timer from the left point for the power-play goal. It was a shot that went up over Tuukka Rask’s right shoulder, a shot that he probably should have stopped.

Third period, 7:53, 2-2: While the Bruins have dominated the third period, they will now have to kill a penalty to try to sustain the momentum.

Chris Kelly was just called for kneeing, and the Bruins have to kill off his two-minute penalty.

Third period, 5:27, 2-2: Boston is all over Carolina here in the third. The Bruins have been a little suspect in the third as of late, but they look like a well-rested bunch right now.

They’re outshooting the Hurricanes 8-2 here in the third period, and if it wasn’t for Justin Peters, the Bruins may be winning this game.

Third period, 4:10, 2-2: The Bruins weren’t able to do anything on the power play, but they certainly had their chances.

Boston is starting to impose its will, and the third period has been played just about entirely in the Carolina zone.

Third period, 1:57, 2-2: The Bruins will get a power play early in the third period. The Hurricanes were just whistled for too many men on the ice.

Third period, 0:10, 2-2: The third period is underway with the Bruins needing to hold and get a point to earn a playoff berth.

Second period reaction: The Bruins certainly turned in a much better effort in the second period than they did in the first.

The B’s were able to tilt the ice some, especially early in the period, and while that didn’t produce anything in the way of goals, it was encouraging to see the bounce-back effort following the first.

However, defensive breakdowns almost cost them a few times in the first, and it did cost them in the second on the way to the Jiri Tlusty goal. The Bruins were sloppy with the puck and when they did get a chance to clear the zone, they couldn’t capitalize. Jordan Staal was more than happy to make them pay, as he picked up the puck before finding Tlusty for the goal.

The Bruins were lucky enough to bounce back late in the period when Tyler Seguin was the main beneficiary of an ugly turnover from Alexander Semin. It’s starting to look like Seguin may be in something of a zone. He’s been very good as of late, and he’s cashing in on his chances. He now has three goals in his last three games, and if he continues to get ice time, we can probably expect that to continue.

End second period, 2-2: The second period is over, and the two teams head to their rooms tied 2-2 through 40 minutes.

Second period, 17:57, 2-2: Tyler Seguin is starting to feel it at the right time for the Bruins.

The forward just scored his third goal in as many games, with a little help from Alex Semin. The Carolina forward turned the puck over in the neutral zone and after a tip up ice from Andrew Ference, Seguin took the puck and went in all alone on Justin Peters. Justin Peters is never going to win that battle. Seguin beat the goalie with a gorgeous wrist shot up under the bar to tie the game.

Second period, 14:04, Hurricanes 2-1: The Bruins may be controlling the play for much of the period here, but the Hurricanes just took their first lead of the night.

Boston wasn’t able to clear its defensive zone, and Carolina took advantage of it. Jordan Staal carried the puck by the net down below the goal line and then dropped a backhanded pass to Jiri Tlusty. He then beat Tuukka Rask shortside with a wrist shot to give the Canes the 2-1 lead.

Second period, 13:33, 1-1: This has been a much better period for the Bruins, who are starting to establish possession in the Carolina zone.

While the B’s didn’t score on the power play, they certainly showed the ability to use that as a weapon and help gain momentum at the least. That’s something they haven’t really had in the past, and it all comes back to Jaromir Jagr. He totally changes the power play when he’s on the ice, and that’s obviously a welcomed change from what the B’s had before he got to Boston.

Second period, 11:45, 1-1: The Bruins couldn’t score on either of those power plays, but they certainly came close. Jaromir Jagr had an unbelievable chance when David Krejci fed him a no-look pass through the slot. However, Justin Peters made an unbelievable glove save to keep it a 1-1 game.

Second period, 9:28, 1-1: The Bruins will have 46 seconds of 5-on-3 here. Tim Gleason just earned himself a slashing call.

Second period, 8:13, 1-1: The Bruins just had their best shift of the period, and they were rewarded at the end. Not with a goal, but with a power play.

Chad Larose just caught Tyler Seguin with a high stick and Boston goes on the power play.

Second period, 6:17 1-1: The Bruins have looked a little bit better here in the second period. One  player who continues to look good in this one is Milan Lucic. He did a nice job of barreling into the Carolina zone and creating a turnover that led to a Jaromir Jagr scoring chance.

I’ve also been impressed with Jordan Caron the last few games. He seems to be all over the ice, and he had five shots on goal the other night. Perhaps most importantly, he’s going to the net, and trying to create offense there. That’s not a bad idea.

Second period, 0:30, 1-1: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: All in all, it was a pretty exciting first period, but the Hurricanes are giving the Bruins some fits.

The Canes were all over the B’s for much of the period at least in terms of controlling the puck in the Boston zone and establishing offensive possession. That’s backed up by the fact that the Canes outshot the Bruins 17-4 in the first period. They finally cashed in late in the period when Jeff Skinner scored kind of an ugly goal, which proved to be the only blemish of the period for Tuukka Rask. The Bruins goaltender was fantastic in the first period, that late goal aside. He really stabilized things for the Bruins in their own end when things certainly could have gone awry.

At the other end, the Bruins did do a good job of getting on the board first. More importantly, it was Milan Lucic who did a nice job of getting traffic in front and he may or may not have tipped the goal by Dan Ellis. Either way, it was good to see Lucic doing some dirty work to help get the B’s on the board. Jaromir Jagr continues to impress, as he was the one who passed it from down low up to the point where Matt Bartkowski (the listed goal-scorer at this point) threw the puck at the net. Jagr now has seven points in six game with Boston.

I would certainly expect the physical play to continue. Adam McQuaid looks pretty upset with multiple Hurricanes, so he may look to get his brawl on in the second period. We should probably keep an eye on Gregory Campbell, who was still a little ticked off after fighting Nicolas Blanchard in the final minute of the period.

End first period, 1-1: The wildly entertaining first period comes to an end with the game tied 1-1. Tuukka Rask was not happy about giving up that goal as he skated off the ice.

First period, 19:33, 1-1: The physicality continues, as Gregory Campbell and Nicolas Blanchard dropped the gloves right off the faceoff following the Jeff Skinner goal.

First period, 19:25, 1-1: The Bruins were victimized by a late goal Thursday night against the Islanders, and the B’s just gave up another tally late in the first period.

Jeff Skinner looked to bank one in off of Tuukka Rask to tie the game.

First period, 18:41, Bruins 1-0: Things are starting to get a little bit nasty here late in the first period.

For whatever reason, Jay Harrison decided to pick a fight with Zdeno Chara during a scrum after a whistle. That led to the Bruins captain dropping his gloves in a heartbeat and proceeding to pound on Harrison.

However, the scrum came after an interference penalty to Milan Lucic, so the Bruins will have to kill that to end the period and into the second.

First period, 17:30, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins just killed off the penalty.

First period, 14:27, Bruins 1-0: The Hurricanes will get the first power play of the game.

Rich Peverley was sent to the box for elbowing.

First period, 14:11, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins have spoken about their fatigue affecting their physical play, and maybe that’s why a Bruin hasn’t dropped the gloves since March 27. That was until this game, of course.

Shawn Thornton just dropped his mitts with Kevin Westgarth and the two engaged in a fairly lengthy, fairly even scrap in the Carolina zone.

First period, 12:57, Bruins 1-0: Jordan Staal continues his excellent game, but in the first 13 minutes of this one, Tuukka Rask has been just a little bit better.

Staal carried the puck into the Boston zone with a head of steam, but his backhanded attempt was stopped by Rask who then covered up the rebound to end the threat.

First period, 11:15, Bruins 1-0: The Hurricanes, to their credit, haven’t just given up after the Bruins took the early lead. That’s pretty impressive considering the streak of poor play they’re in the midst of as it would be pretty easy to just mail it in at this point.

One of the reasons they’ve been able to fight back here some in the first is the play of Jordan Staal. The big forward has already put two shots on goal, but both were turned away by nice saves from Tuukka Rask. The Boston goaltender looks sharp in the early going.

First period, 9:48, Bruins 1-0: It appears that the Bruins goal has been given to Matt Bartkowski, not Milan Lucic. If that stands, it would be the first of Bartkowski’s NHL career.

First period, 6:07, Bruins 1-0: Milan Lucic plays an admittedly “simple” game, which makes his prolonged struggles even more puzzling.

All he has to do is skate and go to the net and hit people and all of that stuff. But for whatever reason, he doesn’t do it nearly enough.

He just did it on his last shift, though, and the Bruins have the early lead because of it. The big forward got in front of the net and a Matt Bartkowski shot hit the forward and bounced by Justin Peters.

First period, 0:09, 0-0: The game is underway.

7:07 p.m.: There’s a playoff berth at stake for the Bruins in this one. All they need is a point.

6:48 p.m.: All right, let’s get to the big news of the day. The Bruins have apparently won World War III with the Swedes and have rescued Carl Soderberg from the grasps of Sweden.

It’s going to be fascinating to see what Soderberg does when he finally gets over here. He’s expected to get here on Tuesday and will join the club on Wednesday. B’s president Cam Neely has said that they see Soderberg as a winger in the early going. That makes sense, too, given how difficult it is to play center in the NHL, and that’s even before you factor in the fact that Soderberg is coming from a totally different style of play in Europe. He’s a big body who’s strong with the puck and he’s strong offensively. He puts the puck in the net, which is obviously something the Bruins are always going to need help with. It will be interesting to see, however, how he’s able to fit in with the Bruins with just a couple of weeks to play in the regular season. Then again, the Bruins have a good bit of uncertainty right now in terms of their lines, so maybe this falls right in with that. At the very least, the Bruins have to hope that bringing in someone new might light a fire under some other forwards that may be feeling a little complacent right now.

Here’s a little more in-depth analysis I put together when the Soderberg news first started to come out a few weeks ago.

6:43 p.m.: Here’s how the Bruins will start with their line combinations, according to pregame warmup line rushes.

Line combinations

Daniel Paille – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Milan Lucic – Gregory Campbell – Jaromir Jagr
Jordan Caron – Chris Kelly – Tyler Seguin
Kaspars Daugavins – Rich Peverley – Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairs

Zdeno Chara – Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowsk i – Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference – Adam McQuaid

6:38 p.m.: Dougie Hamilton will not be in the lineup for the second consecutive game. The rookie defenseman, according to Claude Julien, is getting some rest after a busy season of hockey. The youngster has skated plenty this season between the condensed NHL schedule, his involvement in the world junior tournament and playing junior in Canada. Julien also said that it couldn’t hurt to have Hamilton go up to the press box and see the game from a different angle as well. To be honest, I thought he would be back in the lineup for this one, so it’s an interesting move to say the least.

6:30 p.m.: The Bruins and the Hurricanes just took the ice for pregame warmups in Raleigh. As expected, Tuukka Rask led the Bruins out, so he’ll be the starter. On the other side of the sheet, Justin Peters led Carolina out, so he’ll start for them.

Peters, if you recall, got the start for Carolina last week in Boston. He was torched with a couple of early goals by the B’s and was pulled in favor of Dan Ellis. That didn’t really work out much better for the Hurricanes.

9:30 a.m.: The Carolina Hurricanes are not a very good hockey team, which means the Bruins need to do all they can to take full advantage of that on Saturday night. The B’s are in Raleigh Saturday night where they’ll take on a Carolina team that has lost its last seven straight and jockeying for the position of last place in the NHL.

The Bruins got an up-close-and-personal look at the Hurricanes’ struggles earlier this week in Boston. The B’s trounced the Hurricanes 6-2 behind three first-period goals.

However, there are still plenty of things to work on for the Bruins, and there are things to improve upon from the two teams’ matchup earlier in the week. Boston took its foot off the gas pedal in the third period, giving up two third-period goals to the lowly Hurricanes. The Bruins are still searching for consistent 60-minute efforts. They’re coming into this one (relatively) rested, which means they have no excuse for not throttling the Canes once again.

There have been some good signs lately, though. First and foremost has been the play of Jaromir Jagr. The future Hall of Famer has been as advertised for the B’s racking up six points in five games since being traded. Tyler Seguin is also starting to come along, as he continues to bounce around the Bruins lineup. Seguin has a goal in each of his last two games, and he has three goals in his last six. The Bruins need those two to keep it going if they’re going to get hot going into the playoffs.

The Bruins will also need to get healthy. Patrice Bergeron, who is working his way back from a concussion, sounds like he might be back soon. Bergeron is making the trip with the Bruins to Carolina, but he’s not expected to play Saturday night. Brad Marchand also remains out with a concussion of his own, and there’s still no timetable for his potential return.

Puck drop from Raleigh is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Matt D’Agostino just jammed home a loose puck in front that followed a frantic push in the Boston zone, and the Devils are within a goal with under a minute to play.

Third period, 16:21, Bruins 5-3: The Bruins are just a few minutes from getting out of New Jersey with a win, but it might not be easy.

Tyler Seguin just earned his second penalty of the period, as he was called for elbowing.

Third period, 13:00, Bruins 5-3: The Bruins were able to kill off the Tyler Seguin penalty.

Third period, 10:26, Bruins 5-3: Blink and you might miss something in this one.

If you just blinked, you might have missed the latest Bruins penalty. Tyler Seguin gets sent off this time, and it’s for slashing Marty Brodeur.

Third period, 9:00, Bruins 5-3: The Bruins have announced that Brad Marchand will not return to this game.

Third period, 7:33, Bruins 5-3: Just like that, the Bruins were just able to slow the Devils’ comeback.

Tyler Seguin checks in with (what’s been lately) a rare goal. He banged home a centering pass from Daniel Paille, and the Bruins have their two-goal lead back.

Third period, 5:58, Bruins 4-3: This is getting ugly for the Bruins. The Devils have all the momentum now, and it’s even worse after Andy Greene just scored.

The Devils are now within one.

Third period, 6:00, Bruins 4-2: There’s now video of the Anton Volchenkov hit on Brad Marchand. You can see that by clicking here.

Third period, 0:15, Bruins 4-2: The third period is underway.

End second period, Bruins 4-2 : The second period comes to an end, and the Bruins are holding the two-goal lead.

Second period, 18:12, Bruins 4-2: It’s become a pretty forgettable second period for the Bruins.

Travis Zajac scored a shorthanded goal (the Devils’ first of the night after the Bruins got two in the first), and New Jersey is right back in this game.

Second period, 15:11, Bruins 4-1: Scary moment for the Bruins  and Brad Marchand in just his second shift after returning from his first apparent injury.

Marchand took a nasty elbow to the head from Anton Volchenkov. The dirty hit gets Volchenkov a 5-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct.

Second period, 14:40, Bruins 4-1: Good news for the Bruins: Brad Marchand has returned to the game and just skated a shift, so he’s apparently good to go.

Second period, 11:07, Bruins 4-1: The shutout is gone, and the Bruins may be down a man.

First, the goal. Patrik Elias took advantage of a Bruins turnover in the Boston zone, and he immediately fires a snap shot from the right boards that beats Anton Khudobin.

Just a few seconds earlier, Brad Marchand got tangled up in the neutral zone and appeared to suffer an injury. He’s now in the Bruins locker room.

Second period, 10:38, Bruins 4-0: The Bruins weren’t able to score on the penalty kill, but they did kill off their sixth penalty of the game.

Give credit to Chris Kelly, who has been very good in the two games he’s returned from his injury. He’s logged 4:40 of PK time, and he broke up what could have been a Patrik Elias power-play goal.

Second period, 6:45, Bruins 4-0: The parade to the penalty box continues. Zdeno Chara was just called for a head-scratching tripping penalty, which may mean the Bruins are about to take a 5-0 lead.

Second period, 3:06, Bruins 4-0: The Bruins’ power play is getting in on the fun now.

Jaromir Jagr and David Krejci did some brilliant playmaking, and it leads to Zdeno Chara’s seventh goal of the season. The Bruins are cruising at this point.

Second period, 2:24, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins are now going back on the power play. David Clarkson gets the holding penalty.

Second period, 2:17, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins’ power play lasts all of 6 seconds. Johnny Boychuk was called for high-sticking.

Second period, 2:11, Bruins 3-0: After a first period in which the Devils got all the power plays, the Bruins get the first man-advantage of the period. The Devils were called for too many men on the ice.

Second period, 0:30, Bruins 3-0: The second period is underway with the Bruins holding the commanding 3-0 lead.

First period reaction: The first period had just as much to do with the Devils playing horribly as it did the Bruins playing well.

That being said, you have to give the Bruins credit for taking advantage of the chances they got in what was kind of an uneven first period. It’s certainly not every day that you see a team score two shorthanded goals and almost add a third (the Johnny Boychuk penalty shot) in one period. The B’s actually scored their two shorthanded goals within 3:21 of each other. Boston’s two shorthanded tallies equals the amount of power-play goals they had scored in their last 13 games entering this one.

Other than that, it’s kind of tough to judge that first period. A lot of that just comes from the Devils’ play. They look lethargic, and there’s no doubting the fact that they desperately need Ilya Kovalchuk back in the lineup. They just can’t score right now, and it’s clear they’re lacking a spark at the moment.

End first period, Bruins 3-0: The first period comes to an end with the Bruins holding their 3-0 lead over the listless Devils.

First period, 14:10, Bruins 3-0: It’s obviously been a real dominant period for the Bruins (and that has a lot to do with the Devils, too), and that might be overshadowing what’s been a nice start from Anton Khudobin.

The backup goalie has made a couple of big saves early on, especially on the power plays in the opening minutes. He’s already made 12 saves.

First period, 8:12, Bruins 3-0: OK, so this is getting out of hand early.

The Bruins have had to kill off a handful of penalties already, and they now have their second shorthanded goal of the game.

The B’s were able to gain possession in the New Jersey zone after a Travis Zajac turnover, and Andrew Ference scored through a screen with a wrist shot from the slot.

First period, 7:02, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins, despite the two-goal lead early on, have been up against it here in the first period.

The Devils were just awarded yet another power play as Nathan Horton was called for hooking.

First period, 4:51, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins were down 5-on-3 again after a questionable penalty call on Dennis Seidenberg. No worries for the Bruins, though.

They killed off the final few seconds of the first penalty, and they ended up working a 2-on-1 with Rich Peverley and Daniel Paille that led to Paille scoring his eighth goal of the season.

First period, 3:59, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins killed off the first penalty, and they almost took the two-goal lead.

Johnny Boychuk took a loose puck as he came out of the penalty box, and he was hooked on a breakaway, so he was awarded a penalty shot.

However, the defenseman was stopped by Martin Brodeur.

First period, 2:22, Bruins 1-0: The Devils are now on a 5-on-3 for about a minute and a half.

First, it was Johnny Boychuk who got a tripping penalty. Just a few seconds later, Zdeno Chara got a delay of game penalty.

First period, 1:10, Bruins 1-0: Jaromir Jagr continues to make his presence felt, and it’s his teammates who are benefiting the most.

Jagr just showed some more incredible strength on the puck, winning a puck battle in the slot. He then put a shot on net, and Gregory Campbell was left alone in front. He banged the rebound by Martin Brodeur, and the B’s take the 1-0 lead.

First period, 0:14, 0-0: The first period is under way in New Jersey.

7:25 p.m.: Faceoff in Newark is just a few moments away. Before we get to that, though, let’s take a look at the links from today, shall we?

It sounds like it’s just a matter of time before Carl Soderberg is a Bruin.

Patrice Bergeron is making progress in his recovery and potential return from a concussion.

7:10 p.m.: The Bruins have taken the ice for pregame warmups in New Jersey. According to pregame line rushes, the lines will remain the same as they were in morning skate.

Those are also the same lines the Bruins used Monday night against Carolina.

But if your memory is lacking and somehow no longer possess the ability to scroll down the page, here’s how the B’s will start.

Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Campbell-Jagr
Paille-Kelly-Seguin
Caron-Peverley-Thornton

3:10 p.m.: Future Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur is getting the start for the Devils against the Bruins in this one. He also started last week and looked pretty good in New Jersey’s 1-0 loss to the Bruins.

It will be Brodeur’s 58th career appearance versus the Bruins. He comes in sporting a 24-21-10 record against Boston with a 2.52 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.

We mentioned the Devils’ offensive woes earlier, and it’s no coincidence that this offensive shortage has come in the absence Ilya Kovalchuk. The Russian sniper has missed seven games since suffering a shoulder injury on March 23 against Florida. He practiced with the team Tuesday and took part in morning skate, but he’s still a few days away from returning. That’s obviously a huge piece of the puzzle for the Devils, especially given their inability to put the puck in the net this season. Kovalchuk had 10 goals and 17 assists in 32 games before going down with the injury.

2:35 p.m.: All games are important this time of the season, but this game with the Devils could prove to be a big one for the Bruins. They can thank Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals for that one.

The Caps defeated the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, and in the process, they opened the door for the Bruins. If the B’s take care of business Wednesday against the Devils, they’ll return home leading the Northeast Division. The B’s enter this game just one point behind the idle Habs.

That would also make Thursday night’s Bruins-Islanders a potential playoff preview. A win Wednesday would push the Bruins into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, which would set them up to play the Isles if the playoffs were to start.

2 p.m.: Anton Khudobin will get the start in goal for the Bruins against the Devils, Claude Julien revealed following morning skate.

12:13 p.m.: According to the Bruins Twitter account, Daniel Paille will be on the third line with center Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley will be centering the fourth line.

Here are the rest of the forward lines, as of morning skate:

Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Campbell-Jagr
Paille-Kelly-Seguin
Caron-Peverley-Thornton

–JB
8 a.m. ET: Another night and another struggling opponent await the Bruins. After steamrolling the lowly Hurricanes on Monday night, the B’s head out on the road Wednesday to take on the Devils.

New Jersey is still in the playoff hunt, but the Devils are on the outside looking in at the moment. That’s thanks to a recent skid that has seen them go just 2-4-4 in their last 10 games. The Devils’ issues continue to stem from the offense. Only two teams have scored fewer goals than Jersey, and they enter Wednesday’s game having scored just six goals in their last five games, a stretch that has produced a 0-3-2 record.

Among those games was a 1-0 loss to the Bruins last Thursday in Boston. The Devils peppered Tuukka Rask with 40 shots, but he was able to turn away all of them in a game that featured Jaromir Jagr scoring the game’s lone goal in his Bruins debut.

The B’s have had some offensive issues of their own lately, but they took a big step forward in curing those ailments Monday night against New Jersey. Eleven Bruins had at least one point, and six of those players had multipoint games in the club’s 6-2 win over Carolina. They’ll look to carry that over Wednesday night in New Jersey, where they’ll play their first game of the final back-to-back set this season.

Puck drop in Jersey is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Final, Bruins 6-2: That’s it, and that’s all.

It may not have been as dominant as the final score suggests, but the Bruins do pick up the easy 6-2 win over Carolina.

Third period, 16:56, Bruins 6-2: Nathan Horton decided to join the scoring fun, with some help from Dougie Hamilton.

Horton scored his 13th goal of the season when he took a slap pass from Hamilton and easily redirected it by Dan Ellis.

Third period, 14:21, Bruins 5-2: Barring a total and complete miracle for Carolina, the Bruins are going to win this game.

But they’re likely not going to be very happy with how they have played the third period. The Bruins have not looked good here in the final frame, allowing two goals and being bailed out a couple of more times by Tuukka Rask. Carolina has 12 shots on goal here in the third period, and they have 42 for the game, as opponents continue to pepper the Boston cage with shots as of late.

Third period, 10:48, Bruins 5-2: Give credit to Drayson Bowman, as he’s not showing any quit here in the third period.

The Carolina forward carried the puck into the Boston zone down the right wing, and he got a shot on net that Tuukka Rask stopped. However, Rask couldn’t control the rebound, and Bowman eventually jammed home the rebound to cut the lead to three.

Third period, 10:03, Bruins 5-1: You put enough shots on goal, and one is destined to go in. The Hurricanes just finally broke through here in the third period.

Patrick Dwyer gets the Canes on the board when he slides one through Tuukka Rask’s pads.

Third period, 9:49, Bruins 5-0: The Hurricanes thought they had their first goal of the night, but Eric Staal kicked the puck in, and the review confirmed it.

Third period, 7:58, Bruins 5-0: The power play comes and goes without any real damage for the Bruins. Things looked good early on in the power play as Boston established possession in the Carolina end, but the B’s got a little unlucky when Jaromir Jagr’s stick broke.

Third period, 5:46, Bruins 5-0: The Bruins get their second power play of the game. This time it’s Riley Nash who is called for high-sticking.

Third period, 0:01, Bruins 5-0: The third period is underway with the Bruins leading 5-0. The goal of the third for the Bruins? It has to be stay sharp and stay healthy.

Second period reaction: I don’t have much to add here. The Bruins are taking full advantage of a bad Carolina team. The Hurricanes came in losers of their last four, and they look destined to run that to five in a row. Over this five-game stretch they’ve been outscored 23-5, including being outscored 13-1 in the second period.

That’s all, really.

End second period, Bruins 5-0: The Boston power play wasn’t very effective at all toward the end of the second period, and it was a pretty easy kill for Carolina.

The B’s take the 5-0 lead to the room, though, so you have to think they’ll be happy about that at least.

Second period, 15:57, Bruins 5-0: We have a Milan Lucic sighting.

The big forward just helped the Bruins get their first power play of the night when he took a Jaromir Jagr pass and went to the net. As Lucic went to shoot, he was slashed by Eric Staal.

Second period, 14:30, Bruins 5-0: The Bruins were able to kill off the Zdeno Chara penalty, and they almost got a goal in the seconds following the PK.

Chara got free behind the defense after the penalty expired, and he carried the puck in on the right wing. He eventually tried to score on a snap shot from the faceoff circle, but that was turned aside by a Dan Ellis shoulder save.

Second period, 12:10, Bruins 5-0: The Hurricanes will get the first power play of the evening.

Zdeno Chara’s hooking penalty puts the Bruins on the penalty kill.

Second period, 10:29, Bruins 5-0: The rout is on.

Jordan Caron’s return to the lineup has been a good one thus far. The forward didn’t give up on a play after getting dropped in the neutral zone, and he was eventually rewarded with his first goal of the seaosn.

Rich Peverley put the initial shot on goal, and Shawn Thornton worked to keep the rebound alive, but it was Caron who scored on a backhand attempt from the slot to push the lead to five.

Second period, 8:02, Bruins 4-0: More of the same here in the second period. The Hurricanes are getting their shots on goal (although no real sparkling scoring chances), and Tuukka Rask is turning them away. The goaltender has 26 saves about halfway through this game. He’s looked real sharp, as he has over the past few games he’s been in there.

Second period, 3:57, Bruins 4-0: The onslaught continues for the Bruins, as they are running away with this game.

Andrew Ference just turned himself into a forward, as he went to the front of the net in the midst of a line change. The defenseman got in the way of a Dennis Seidenberg shot from the right point, and the puck eventually got by Dan Ellis off of Ference’s leg.

Second period, 0:10, Bruins 3-0: The second period is underway.

First period reaction: The Bruins were kind of outplayed in that first period, but they made the most of their chances, and they now have a commanding 3-0 lead.

Carolina doubled up on the Bruins in shots with an 18-9 lead in that department, but they obviously have nothing to show for that. Tuukka Rask is playing some very good hockey right now, and he looks like he might be in the zone. He made at least one jaw-dropping save in the first period when he robbed Zac Dalpe of what looked like a sure goal in the game’s first few minutes.

The Bruins may have found their answer as to where to put Jaromir Jagr, too. He looks very good alongside Brad Marchand, and they have combined for two of the B’s three goals.

End first period, Bruins 3-0: The first period comes to an end with the Bruins leading 3-0 despite being outshot 18-9.

First period, 17:20, Bruins 3-0: It looks like Brad Marchand and Jaromir Jagr are starting to get some chemistry together, and it’s paying off.

They just combined for their second goal of the evening. Dennis Seidenberg made a gorgeous pass out of his own end to Marchand, and the forward was able to control it and drop it for Jagr. The big playmaker skated around the net and attempted a wraparound. It went through the slot to Marchand on the left wing, and he beat Dan Ellis with a backhander to give the B’s the three-goal lead.

First period, 15:32, Bruins 2-0: Matt Bartkowski is having a rough couple of games after looking very strong since being recalled.

He had a bad turnover that led to a goal that bounced off of him on Saturday night, and he almost cost the B’s again in this one. He was outmuscled behind the Boston net, which lead to a turnover. However, the Hurricanes couldn’t settle the puck in front quickly enough, and once they finally got a shot on goal, it was deflected over the glass.

First period, 11:46, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins are still a little suspect in their own end through the first eight minutes or so, and the Hurricanes continue to put shots on net. Tuukka Rask looks very good so far, and he’s been up to the task.

By the way, Justin Peters was pulled following the second goal, and he’s been replaced in the Carolina net by Dan Ellis.

First period, 7:58, Bruins 2-0: So far, so good for the new Bruins lines.

This time it’s the line of Gregory Campbell, Jaromir Jagr and Brad Marchand.

Jagr carried the puck into the zone, Campbell kept possession alive, and then Marchand went straight to the net and put home the rebound of a Campbell shot to give Boston the 2-0 lead.

First period, 6:42, Bruins 1-0: Other than the Rich Peverley goal, it hasn’t been a very good showing for the Bruins here in the first.

The B’s have been pretty sloppy with the puck, and the Hurricanes are getting their chances. The Canes, who put 49 shots on net in their loss to the Rangers on Saturday night, already have eight in this one to Boston’s two.

First period, 3:50, Bruins 1-0: Rich Peverley hasn’t been playing very well as of late, but he’s taken his demotion the right way. Because of that, the Bruins lead 1-0.

Peverley just scored the game’s first goal, and the B’s lead 1-0. Peverley’s original shot from just beside the right post was initially stopped, but the forward skated around the net, came out the other side and jammed home the rebound.

It all started at the other end, though, when Tuukka Rask made a gorgeous save on Zac Dalpe.

First period, 0:10, 0-0 The Bruins and Hurricanes are underway here at the Garden.  

7:03 p.m.: Wade Redden, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo and Aaron Johnson are healthy scratches for the Bruins. Meanwhile, Patrice Bergeron remains out with a concussion. However, he’s reportedly here at the Garden, which is certainly a good sign.

6:40 p.m.: The Bruins are in their third jerseys for this one, and the Hurricanes are wearing their normal road whites.

The Bruins’ lines are the same as they were for morning skate, which means there is some mixing up being done.

Here are the lines the Bruins will start the game on, based on what they showed during pregame warmups.

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Gregory Campbell – Jaromir Jagr
Daniel Paille – Chris Kelly – Tyler Seguin
Jordan Caron – Rich Peverley – Shawn Thornton

6:30 p.m.: Pregame warmups are underway, and Tuukka Rask is indeed the starting goaltender for the Bruins.

Justin Peters, who is 3-6-0 with a 2.83 goals against and .908 save percentage, gets the starting nod for Carolina.

6 p.m.: Good evening and welcome to TD Garden, where the Boston sports scene shifts from Yawkey Way to Causeway Street on a busy day of sports fun.

It is an absolutely beautiful day in Boston, and the Sox took care of their business by winning the home opener over the Baltimore Orioles. You can get caught up on all of that by checking out NESN.com Red Sox/MLB writer Ricky Doyle’s live blog by clicking here. I have it on good faith that he’s got some postgame reaction on the way, too, so be sure to check that out in the minutes leading up to the B’s-Hurricanes game here at the Garden.

3:30 p.m.: The Southeast Division has been arguably the worst in hockey this season, and it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Hurricanes are one of three Southeast clubs in the basement of the Eastern Conference.

Interestingly, however, the Canes have struggled against the Southeast. They’re just 4-11-0 against division rivals. However, they’ve been pretty good veruss the Northeast and Atlantic, the two divisions that are home to seven of the eight playoff teams right now. They’re 7-5-0 against the Northeast and 5-3-2 against the Atlantic.

What’s a little less surprising, though, is how the Bruins have cleaned up against the Southeast. The B’s are 8-1-1 against the division entering Monday’s tilt. Boston won 5-3 in the two teams’ only meeting of the season thus far on Jan. 28.

1:45 p.m.: It sounds like Tuukka Rask will get the start in net against the Hurricanes. He didn’t take the ice for the optional morning skate, while Anton Khudobin got some work in on the Garden ice. That would seem to indicate that it’s Rask’s game against Carolina, but we’ll see for sure in a few hours.

12:35 p.m.: You want to pick up wins every chance you can at this point in the season, and that’s even more imperative for the Bruins on Monday night. They’re about to open a big week, and they’re coming off an ugly loss Saturday night in Montreal.

There really are no excuses, either. This Hurricanes team is just not very good at all, especially as of late. The Canes come in riding a four-game losing streak, and they are just 1-8-1 in their last 10 games.

It has not been pretty. The Hurricanes have been outscored 18-5 during the losing streak, with most of the damage coming in the second period. Carolina has been outscored 11-1 during the middle period on this four-game losing streak.

11:45 a.m.: While Chris Kelly is expected to return, it’s unlikely that defenseman Adam McQuaid will be back. He’s progressing, but Claude Julien said he doesn’t expect the big D-man to be back for this game. He remains out with a shoulder injury.

11:25 a.m.: The Bruins just tweeted that Claude Julien said Boston center Chris Kelly is expected to be in the lineup for this game.

11 a.m.:  The Bruins, despite having won three of their last four, still have plenty of room for improvement following Saturday night’s loss in Montreal. They’ll look to start to right the ship on Monday night against Carolina.

The Hurricanes are in Boston for the first time this season, where they’ll face a Bruins team that’s in the middle of adjusting on the fly. The Bruins are still trying to find the best line combinations in the wake of making some trade deadline acquisitions, most notably bringing in Jaromir Jagr, while still adjusting to injuries, most notably Patrice Bergeron.

It’s expected that Claude Julien is shaking the lines up again on Monday night against Carolina. Tyler Seguin has been all over the place recently, and he may be on the move again. He centered a line with Brad Marchand and Jaromir Jagr on Thursday night. Early in Saturday’s game, Rich Peverley moved up to center the line while Seguin moved back to the wing.

On Monday night, it’s expected that Seguin will find himself on the third line. That’s where he was at practice Sunday. Seguin was on the third line with Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly and Jay Pandolfo. Monday night could also mark the return of Kelly, who has been out since March 13 with a broken tibia.

Puck drop at the Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m.