VANCOUVER — After two straight victories by a combined 12-1 count, the Bruins aren't expected to be making any lineup changes for Game 5 in Vancouver on Friday night.
With Nathan Horton sidelined with a concussion, Rich Peverley moved up to the top line in Game 4 in Boston on Wednesday and responded with two goals. He'll remain with David Krejci and Milan Lucic on that unit, while Tyler Seguin will stay in the lineup after returning in Game 4 and collecting an assist for his first point in eight games.
Due to the early start to the game (5 p.m. local time in Vancouver), the Bruins opted not to hold a morning skate, with just their spare players going on the ice.
The Canucks, however, did skate in the morning, and that workout hinted at Vancouver making at least one lineup change. Rookie defenseman Christopher Tanev skated with the regulars, while Keith Ballard stayed out late with the scratches. Tanev has not played in this series, but did appear in two games against San Jose in the conference final. Ballard played in Game 4, replacing the suspended Aaron Rome, but struggled mightily in that contest.
As usual, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault didn't discuss any lineup decisions while meeting with the media after the skate, but he did praise Tanev.
"When we've used Chris this year he's been real steady," Vigneault said. "He can make a first pass at the forecheck. He's a kid that was playing in Manitoba [Vancouver's AHL affiliate], and we got in injury trouble and he came up and did a real solid job for us."
Vigneault also stated that injured defenseman Dan Hamhuis will make the trip to Boston for Game 6 on Monday. Hamhuis remains day to day and is not expected to play on Friday.
Vigneault already announced on Thursday that he will stick with embattled starter Roberto Luongo in goal, despite Luongo allowing 12 goals in just over five periods the past two games. Luongo was pulled early in the third period of Game 4 for Boston College product Cory Schneider, and Luongo could be on a short leash again in Game 5 if he struggles early.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Michael Ryder-Chris Kelly-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Nathan Horton (concussion), Shane Hnidy, Steven Kampfer, Jordan Caron, Matt Bartkowski, Jamie Arniel, Trent Whitfield, Anton Khudobin
Projected Canucks lines
Forwards
Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Alex Burrows
Christopher Higgins-Ryan Kesler-Mason Raymond
Raffi Torres-Maxim Lapierre-Jannik Hansen
Tanner Glass-Manny Malhotra-Victor Oreskovich
Defense
Sami Salo-Alexander Edler
Christopher Tanev-Kevin Bieksa
Andrew Alberts-Christian Ehrhoff
Goalies
Roberto Luongo
Cory Schneider
Scratches: Dan Hamhuis (undisclosed injury), Aaron Rome (suspended), Keith Ballard, Alexandre Bolduc, Jeff Tambellini, Aaron Volpatti, Cory Hodgson, Sergei Shirokov, Eddie Lack
