BOSTON — As usual, Bruins coach Claude Julien was tight-lipped about his selection of a starter in goal for Thursday's home opener against Washington.
"All I can say is we'll probably see at 7 o'clock who gets the nod here, guys," said Julien after the morning skate at the Garden.
But this decision wasn't exactly a well-kept secret. Tuukka Rask was the first off the ice in the morning skate, traditionally indicating that he will be the starter. And Rask, who has not played since the season opener in Prague on Oct. 9, confirmed he will get the nod.
"It's fun. It's been a while since the last start, so it should be great," said Rask. "I'm just going to try to get that flow back in a game and go from there."
Rask could be a little rusty with the time off between starts but feels confident he's gotten enough work in practice to avoid any potential pitfalls from a lack of activity.
"Obviously when you're not playing you're working harder in practice and doing some extra stuff," said Rask. "So physically, nothing has changed."
Rask doesn't draw an easy assignment to ease back into action, as he'll have to face the potent Capitals attack in this one.
"Their offense is one of the greatest in the league," said Rask. "They really can create scoring chances, so you have to be careful out there. When those top forwards are out there, they're always going to do something tricky and they find those scoring chances, so you've just got to be careful and be on your toes at all times."
Outside of the goalie change, the Bruins are expected to dress the same lineup as Tuesday. That means Daniel Paille, Brian McGrattan and Adam McQuaid will again be the healthy scratches, while the line combinations and defense pairings remain intact.
The Capitals will be going with the same lineup as Tuesday as well, though they also will have a new starter between the pipes as Semyon Varlamov is expected to get the nod. Varlamov saw his first action of the season on Tuesday in relief of Michal Neuvirth, who was suffering from the flu.
Injured defenseman Mike Green and banged-up forwards Matt Bradley and Boyd Gordon are expected to remain out for this game as well. The only other change for Washington is a flip-flop of centers on the second and third lines. Rookie Marcus Johansson is now skating between Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin, while Tomas Fleischmann moves down between Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr.
Below are the projected lines for Thursday's tilt.
Bruins
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
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
Scratches: Daniel Paille, Brian McGrattan, Adam McQuaid
Capitals
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Mike Knuble
Brooks Laich- Marcus Johansson -Alexander Semin
Jason Chimera-Tomas Fleischmann-Eric Fehr
Matt Hendricks-David Steckel-D.J. King
Defense
Jeff Schultz-Karl Alzner
Tom Poti-Tyler Sloan
John Erskine-John Carlson
Goalies
Semyon Varlamov
Michal Neuvirth
Scratches: Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, Mike Green
