BOSTON — The Bruins will use the new line combinations unveiled this week in practice in a game setting Thursday night against Atlanta.
The stakes are high for the revamped lines, as Boston looks to break out of a slump that’s seen the Bruins win just one of their last five games. The Bruins need a victory as they head into their final game before Christmas and their last game at the TD Garden before a five-game road trip.
“This is just something that you do over the course of a season and you hope that it kind of gives it some life and some results,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “We’ve had at least a couple days to practice with those lines, and we’ll see how it ends up tonight.”
Marc Savard is now back up on the top line with Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton, while David Krejci has moved back with old linemates Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder. Rookie Tyler Seguin joins Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi in a generation-spanning unit, with only the fourth line of Shawn Thornton, Greg Campbell and Daniel Paille remaining unchanged.
Paille remains in that spot as Brad Marchand is expected to miss his second game with an undisclosed injury. Marchand did skate on his own for the first time Thursday morning, but Julien stated the young agitator was “very doubtful” for Thursday’s game.
Atlanta will have some changes of its own, with forward Ben Eager and defenseman Freddy Meyer returning to the lineup. Eager, a healthy scratch the last three games, replaces Tim Stapleton, while Meyer, who has played just one game since Oct. 23, will give Zach Bogosian a break on the blue line.
“Benny is a guy who can skate and bang around a bit,” Atlanta coach Craig Ramsay said. “We need that, another level of enthusiasm. Freddy Meyer gets around the ice very well. It’s been hard for Freddy. He hasn’t been able to play very much, but he’s a great kid. He’s competed. He works as hard as anybody off the ice. Bogo [Bogosian] has been so banged up that I felt it was a good opportunity to give him three days rest before we have to play again. So it was good for him, and hopefully, those guys will come in and give us a little jump.”
With no morning skate, there was no indication of who will be in net for the Bruins. But with the importance the Bruins have placed on this one, it’s hard to see them not starting Tim Thomas (15-4-3, 1.70 GAA, .948 save percentage). Atlanta is expected to counter with Ondrej Pavelec, who was pulled in the first period of both of his starts in Boston last year. This season, though, he has rivaled Thomas as the hottest goalie in the league with a 12-6-3 record, 1.81 GAA and .943 save percentage.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Nathan Horton
Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Steven Kampfer
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Brad Marchand, Mark Stuart (hand)
Projected Thrashers lines
Forwards
Andrew Ladd-Rich Pverley-Nik Antropov
Evander Kane-Bryan Little-Anthony Stewart
Ben Eager-Alexander Burmistrov-Freddy Modin
Eric Boulton-Jim Slater-Chris Thorburn
Defense
Tobias Enstrom-Dustin Byfuglien
Johnny Oduya-Freddy Meyer
Ron Hainsey-Brent Sopel
Goalies
Ondrej Pavelec
Chris Mason
Scratches: Zach Bogosian, Niclas Bergfors, Tim Stapleton
