Greetings from Ristuccia Arena where Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli and vice president Cam Neely are seated in the back row of the stands carefully watching their team practice.
With the Bruins mired in a five-game losing streak and a record of 1-8-1 in their last 10 games, the burning question Monday and most likely throughout the week, is what will Chiarelli, Neely and the Bruins' brass do to pull the Bruins out of this downward spiral?
Obviously nothing has happened yet but it's clear head coach Claude Julien still believes hard work and skating can help as he put his team through a rigorous skate today.
Marc Savard is once again practicing and is skating on a line with Daniel Paille and Miroslav Satan. Savard is trying to come back from a partially torn MCL and is targeting this Friday at Buffalo as a return date. Also, Byron Bitz is on the ice. Bitz has missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury. Bitz is skating with Shawn Thornton and Vladimir Sobotka.
Here are the lines and defensive pairings:
Forwards
Daniel Paile–Marc Savard–Miroslav Satan
Milan Lucic–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton–Vladimir Sobotka–Byron Bitz
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Mark Stuart–Dennis Wideman
Matt Hunwick–Johnny Boychuk/Adam McQuaid
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
