BOSTON — The Bruins will look to close out their Eastern Conference semifinal series against Philadelphia in Game 4 at the Garden on Friday, and they'll do it with the same lineup they used to post a 5-1 win in Game 3 on Wednesday.
There's no reason to tinker with the forward lines after scoring 15 goals in the first three games, and Tim Thomas has been spectacular in goal, so don't expect any changes there. The one area that has been altered during the course of the series is the defense, where Shane Hnidy stepped in for Adam McQuaid after McQuaid suffered a sprained neck in Game 2.
McQuaid continues to progress and skated on his own Friday morning, but Bruins coach Claude Julien confirmed that McQuaid will remain out for Game 4.
"I think he's getting better," Julien said. "He skated this morning, so again, things are looking positive."
That means Hnidy will stay in the lineup. He played just four shifts for 2:38 and will likely play a limited role again in this one, but the Bruins aren't too concerned with overtaxing the remaining blueliners.
"I think we spread it out fairly well," defenseman Andrew Ference said. "Even with Hnides playing less, I think it was spread out not too bad. I think a lot of teams go [with] four defensemen, especially this time of year, so if anything I think we spread it out more than most teams over the course of the whole year and the start of the playoffs. I don't think there's anybody back there that's overburdened or anything like that."
The Flyers will make at least one significant change, as Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in goal. Brian Boucher had started the first three games, but was pulled in Games 1 and 3. Bobrovsky also came on briefly in Game 2 when Boucher suffered a hand injury in the second period.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette confirmed the goalie change, but refused to comment on any other possible lineup moves. Defenseman Chris Pronger has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, and Laviolette declined to offer an update on his status for Game 4.
"Good try," Laviolette said when asked. "All injury updates come from the general manager, Paul Holmgren."
Up front, Jeff Carter returned in Game 3 from a knee injury. He and Pronger both did not practice on Thursday, but Carter is expected to play again on Friday.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle-Shane Hnidy
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Adam McQuaid (neck), Tyler Seguin, Matt Bartkowski, Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel, Anton Khudobin
Projected Flyers lines
Forwards
Scott Hartnell-Danny Briere-Ville Leino
James van Riemsdyk-Claude Giroux-Nikolay Zherdev
Jeff Carter-Mike Richards-Kris Versteeg
Dan Carcillo-Blair Betts-Darroll Powe
Defense
Matt Carle-Andrej Meszaros
Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn
Danny Syvret-Sean O'Donnell
Goalies
Sergei Bobrovsky
Brian Boucher
Scratches: Chris Pronger (lower body), Andreas Nodl (upper body), Jody Shelley, Zac Rinaldo, Matt Walker, Nick Boynton, Erik Gustafsson, Ben Holmstrom, Michael Leighton
