The Bruins will face a familiar foe Tuesday night in Washington, as they take on the Capitals in the opener of a home-and-home series.
The Bruins actually play Washington three times in their first 10 games of the season after facing them twice in the preseason and in two of the final four games of the regular season last year.
Despite that, there are still some questions about exactly who they will be facing on Tuesday, as the Capitals are dealing with a number of minor injuries that have forced some juggling of their lineup.
Scrappy forward Matt Bradley is definitely out with a lower-body injury, while defensemen Tom Poti and John Carlson are expected to play despite being banged up with lower-body injuries of their own. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau keeps a tight rein on injury information, so the exact nature of all the ailments isn't known.
It's also not known if standout defenseman Mike Green, who led all NHL blueliners with 76 points last year, will be able to go with an upper-body injury. Boudreau labeled Green a game-time decision, but the Washington Post's capitals Insider blog noted that Green stayed on the ice for extra work with the coaches following the club's morning skate, indicating that he will likely be out for this one.
Forward Boyd Gordon is also a game-time decision with an unspecified ailment. If he can't go, enforcer D.J. King will get back in the lineup for just his second game of the year.
Michal Neuvirth, who has played all five games so far this year, will get the start in goal again for Washington.
For the Bruins, things are much simpler, as Boston won't be making any changes to the lineup that has won its last two meetings. Tim Thomas gets the start in goal for the third straight game after allowing just one goal on 61 shots so far this year.
The line combinations and defense pairings also remain intact, with Daniel Paille, Brian McGrattan and Adam McQuaid the healthy scratches once again.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Jordan Caron-Patrice Bergeron-Blake Wheeler
Mark Recchi-Tyler Seguin-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton-Gregory Campbell-Brad Marchand
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Mark Stuart- Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Matt Hunwick
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Daniel Paille, Brian McGrattan, Adam McQuaid
Capitals
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Mike Knuble
Brooks Laich-Tomas Fleischmann-Alexander Semin
Jason Chimera-Marcus Johansson-Eric Fehr
Matt Hendricks-David Steckel-Boyd Gordon/D.J. King
Defense
Jeff Schultz-Karl Alzner
Tom Poti-Tyler Sloan
John Erskine-John Carlson
Goalies
Michal Neuvirth
Semyon Varlamov
Scratches: Forward Matt Bradley is out with a lower-body injury and defenseman Mike Green and forward Boyd Gordon are game-time decisions.
