VANCOUVER — After 82 regular-season games and 24 playoff contests, the Bruins will play their final game of the season Wednesday night in Vancouver.
It will be the 107th and final game of the season for the Canucks as well, with one team finally hoisting the Cup after they clash in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Arena.
The Bruins won't be making any lineup changes for this one. On Wednesday morning, Bruins coach Claude Julien debunked the rumors of a possible return of Nathan Horton from the severe concussion he suffered in Game 3 when Julien cut off a question about it by saying, "Absolutely no. It's ridiculous. So let's put an end to that."
With Horton remaining out, the Bruins will roll with the same lines that produced a 5-2 win in Game 6 back in Boston. That included Rich Peverley filling in for Horton on the top line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic.
The Canucks will be without one of their key forwards as well. Mason Raymond suffered a broken vertebra in his back on a hit from Johnny Boychuk on Monday, and is expected to be out until at least November.
Jeff Tambellini is expected to return to the lineup in Raymond's place, though Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault may shake up his line combinations rather than simply putting Tambellini on the second line.
Tambellini has played five games in the playoffs, including the first three games of this series. He has no points and a minus-3 rating in the postseason, but Vigneault expects him to play well in Game 7.
"He has had some experience in this series, but he hasn't played regular," Vigneault said. "But he's going to get an opportunity here tonight to play the seventh game to win the Stanley Cup. I'm sure he's excited. He knows about their history in B.C., the history of the Canucks. I'm sure he's going to be real good tonight."
The Canucks are also shorthanded on defense, where Dan Hamhuis has been out since suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 1 and Aaron Rome is serving the fourth and final game of his suspension for his late hit on Horton.
Alex Edler was also banged up in Game 6, but will play on Wednesday. "[He's] good to go," Vigneault said.
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-Jeff Tambellini
Raffi Torres-Maxim Lapierre-Jannik Hansen
Tanner Glass-Manny Malhotra-Victor Oreskovich
Defense
Kevin Bieksa-Alexander Edler
Sami Salo-Christian Ehrhoff
Christopher Tanev-Andrew Alberts
Goalies
Roberto Luongo
Cory Schneider
Scratches: Dan Hamhuis (undisclosed injury), Mason Raymond (back), Aaron Rome (suspended), Keith Ballard, Alexandre Bolduc, Aaron Volpatti, Cory Hodgson, Sergei Shirokov, Eddie Lack
