With Shawn Thornton out for another maintenance day, defenseman Johnny Boychuk saw time at left wing with Byron Bitz and Steve Begin on the fourth line. Head coach Claude Julien stressed not to read too much into the line shuffle, noting that Boychuk was only there to fill out the line with Thornton absent.
Here are the probable lines against Nashville, with an emphasis on probable (Julien may decide Vladimir Sobotka or Brad Marchand fit better on another line following the game-day skate or in-game on Wednesday):
Marco Sturm-Marc Savard-Mark Recchi
Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Blake Wheeler
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz
Derek Morris-Zdeno Chara
Mark Stuart-Andrew Ference
Matt Hunwick-Dennis Wideman
Wideman, out since Oct. 10 when he suffered a shoulder injury in the Bruins’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Islanders, continues to look ready to play and will be a game-time decision.
Ference left practice early with an apparent gash on his face, compliments of a puck deflecting off his stick. Julien termed the gash "a good one," but said Ference should be good to go Wednesday.
If Wideman or Ference doesn't play, Boychuk would take the spot.
Following practice, Zdeno Chara said that the team needed to focus on details and stay within its game plan regardless of the score.
"Every time we’ve fallen behind, it seems we start getting risky or taking chances we don’t normally take, and we can’t do that anymore," the captain said. "We need to stay with our game plan and not let the other team dictate what we do."
As always, there was no word from Julien who would start in net — Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask. Thomas has started the last two games and gone 1-1-0.
