BOSTON — Many NHL teams have specialists. Guys who play primarily on the power play or tough guys used in limited fourth-line roles.
But the Bruins might have the only guy in the league who specializes in playing against just one particular opponent.
Rookie defenseman Matt Bartkowski was called up to fill in on the blue line with Andrew Ference (lower body) and Steven Kampfer (concussion) sidelined, and will play his third NHL game Saturday night when Boston hosts the Penguins. It will also be the Pittsburgh native's third game against the Pens.
"It's pretty funny, I only play against Pittsburgh," Bartkowski said after the morning skate.
There are benefits to the youngster seeing the same team in each of his call-ups.
"It definitely helps," Bartkowski said. "Comfort level and easing nerves and stuff like that, it definitely helps being the same opponent."
Bruins coach Claude Julien agrees.
"I would say so," Julien said. "I mean like you said it's ironic that that's three times against the same team and his hometown. But he knows this team that he's playing against tonight. If anything he's got some experience against them, so hopefully it will help him and probably make him relax a little bit more. But he's a guy we know is a good player and will eventually be with the team and just continues to progress down there. And let's see how good he is now that he's on his third call-up."
Julien will mix and match his defense pairings as he works the youngster into the rotation, but he does expect more from Bartkowski now that he has a couple games under his belt after playing against Pittsburgh twice in January.
"The third time around you hope that he's got more confidence than he did the first and second time and he just comes out and plays his game," Julien said. "I think eventually guys start getting a little bit more confidence and more comfortable at this level where they start doing a little bit more. And I wouldn't be surprised if we see that from him."
The Bruins will also be without center Patrice Bergeron, who is away from the team for personal reasons. Julien stated Bergeron will be back at practice on Monday, but Rich Peverley will move to the center spot between Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi against Pittsburgh. Peverley played center most of his time in Atlanta, but has been on the wing on a line with Chris Kelly and Michael Ryder since joining the Bruins.
"I think he's got some playmaking abilities," Julien said of Peverley. "When you look back at where he was in Atlanta he always played on the top two lines. So he's a player that's been there and is capable of handling that position. So we thought it was probably a good adjustment for us to put him up there and hopefully keep that line going."
After being a healthy scratch on Thursday, Tyler Seguin will replace Peverley on the third line.
The Penguins did not hold a morning skate after playing Friday night in New Jersey, where they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Devils in overtime. Brent Johnson started that game, but Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in net against the Bruins. Fleury is 28-16-5 with a 2.37 GAA and a .917 save percentage this season.
Pittsburgh could get forward Chris Kunitz back for this game. He's missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was activated from injured reserve on Wednesday, but did not play on Friday. The Penguins still have seven other players in injured reserve, including stars Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Evgeni Maklin (knee). Forwards Arron Asham (concussion), Mike Comrie (hip), Nick Johnson (concussion) and Eric Tangradi (concussion) and defenseman Brooks Orpik (broken finger) are all out.
Enforcer Eric Godard is also out as he serves the final game of his 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to fight against the Islanders on Feb. 11.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Rich Peverley-Mark Recchi
Michael Ryder-Chris Kelly-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Greg Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle-Dennis Seidenberg
Matt Bartkowski-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Patrice Bergeron (personal reasons), Steven Kampfer (concussion), Andrew Ference (lower body), Shane Hnidy (shoulder)
Projected Penguins lines
Forwards
James Neal-Mark Letestu-Alex Kovalev
Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy
Dustin Jeffrey-Maxime Talbot-Pascal Dupuis
Michael Rupp-Craig Adams-Chris Conner
Defense
Kris Letang-Deryk Engelland
Paul Martin-Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen-Ben Lovejoy
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brent Johnson
Scratches: Chris Kunitz (lower body), Eric Godard (suspension)
