The Bruins get their first shot at the Flyers since last spring's playoff collapse Wednesday night in Philadelphia, and it appears they will turn to the one player from last year's squad who didn't actually play in that series.
Tim Thomas, who dressed as Tuukka Rask's backup but did not see any action in last year's postseason, is expected to get the start in goal in this one. The Bruins did not have a full morning skate on Wednesday. Instead, just injured forwards Marc Savard and Marco Sturm, along with Daniel Paille and Rask skated.
Rask's presence for the optional workout would appear to indicate that Thomas (11-2-1, 1.56 GAA, .951 save percentage, four shutouts) will be in net for the game. Paille also appears to be the healthy scratch, which is not surprising with his costly mistakes in recent games and demotion to the "fifth line" in practice with rehabbing forwards Savard and Sturm on Tuesday.
Savard will definitely not make his return in this game, but he will be back soon, perhaps even as early as Thursday's home game against Tampa Bay. Coach Claude Julien described Savard's status as now being "day-to-day" on Wednesday morning.
The Bruins are expected to begin the game with the revamped line combinations used in Thursday's practice. That puts David Krejci back on the top line between Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton, who have both been slumping of late. Patrice Bergeron slides down to a line with Mark Recchi and Blake Wheeler, who returns to wing after playing mostly center in recent weeks.
Brad Marchand gets a promotion up to the third line with Michael Ryder and Tyler Seguin, who remains at center, while fellow rookie Jordan Caron, who missed the last two game with the flu, slides down to skate with Greg Campbell and Shawn Thornton.
There are changes a plenty on defense too, as the Bruins will play their first game since Matt Hunwick was traded to Colorado on Monday. Adam McQuaid returns to the lineup to fill that void, and he'll be paired with Mark Stuart. Zdeno Chara remains with Andrew Ference, while Dennis Seidenberg moves over to the left side to partner with Johnny Boychuk. The Bruins have mixed and matched their pairings during the course of the game throughout the season though, so expect to see plenty of different combinations again in this one.
For the Flyers, rookie Sergei Bobrovsky (12-3-2, 2.19 GAA, .926 save percentage) was the first goalie off the ice at their morning skate, so he'll likely get the start against the Bruins.
The Flyers remain without agitator Daniel Carcillo, who returned to practice on Monday but is still about a week away from being ready for game action after suffering a sprained knee. Defenseman Oskars Bartulis will be the lone healthy scratch for Philadelphia.
Projected Bruins lines:
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Blake Wheeler
Brad Marchand-Tyler Seguin-Michael Ryder
Jordan Caron-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Andrew Ference
Dennis Seidenberg-Johnny Boychuk
Mark Stuart-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Daniel Paille
Projected Flyers lines:
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Mike Richards-Andreas Nodl
Scott Hartnell-Danny Briere-Ville Leino
Nikolay Zherdev-Claude Giroux-Jeff Carter
Jody Shelley-Blair Betts-Darroll Powe
Defense
Chris Pronger-Matt Carle
Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn
Andrej Meszaros-Sean O'Donnell
Goalies
Sergei Bobrovsky
Bria Boucher
Scratches: Oskars Bartulis, Daniel Carcillo (knee)
