BOSTON — The Bruins will try again to clinch the Northeast Division title on Saturday, needing just a point in their matinee against Atlanta at the Garden.
Defenseman Shane Hnidy will have a chance to finally be part of that potential division championship, as the veteran blueliner will make his season debut in the game.
Steven Kampfer will be one of the scratches on defense, but Bruins coach Claude Julien stated that the other scratch on defense won't be made until after warm-ups. All seven of the other blueliners will skate in the pre-game session, including captain Zdeno Chara. Chara did not practice on Friday, but Julien said he will be in the lineup for this game.
Shawn Thornton remains out as he has yet to get medical clearance to return from the cut to his forehead that needed more than 40 stitches to close. The forward lines will remain unchanged, while Tuukka Rask will get the start in goal. Rask is 3-1-0 with a 1.72 GAA, .934 save percentage and two shutouts against Atlanta.
Atlanta doesn't have any healthy scratches to make, with forwards Radek Dvorak (upper body), Patrice Cormier (upper body) and Jim Slater (concussion) and defensemen Freddy Meyer (upper body) all out.
Despite Chris Mason's 43-save shutout of Philadelphia on Thursday, it appears Atlanta coach, and former Bruins assistant, Craig Ramsay will stick with his goalie rotation and Ondrej Pavelec will get the start in net. Pavelec has played all three of the previous games against Boston this season.
In addition to Ramsay, the Thrashers will bring a couple more familiar faces to the Garden as Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler will play their first games against their old club since being traded to Atlanta in February.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Rich Peverley-Chris Kelly-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Greg Campbell-Michael Ryder
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle- Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid/Shane Hnidy
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Shawn Thornton (facial laceration), Steven Kampfer
Projected Thrashers lines
Forwards
Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane-Rob Schremp-Nik Antropov
Ben Maxwell-Tim Stapleton-Anthony Stewart
Eric Boulton-Alexander Burmistrov-Chris Thorburn
Defense
Ron Hainsey-Dustin Byfuglien
Tobias Enstrom-Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart-JohnnyOduya
Goalies
Ondrej Pavelec
Chris Mason
Scratches: Radek Dvorak (upper body), Patrice Cormier (upper body), Freddy Meyer (upper body), Jim Slater (concussion)
