BOSTON — Both the Bruins and the Canucks will have some new faces in their lineups Wednesday night when the Stanley Cup Final resumes with Game 4 at the Garden.
The Bruins will have to replace injured forward Nathan Horton on their top line, while the Canucks will be without defenseman Aaron Rome, who was suspended for four games for the late hit that concussed Horton.
Tyler Seguin will return to the lineup for Boston after being a healthy scratch in Game 3, but he's not likely to step into Horton's spot on the first line. Either Michael Ryder or Rich Peverley will get the nod for that role skating alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic.
Ryder has played extensively with Krejci in the past, forming an effective line two years ago along with Blake Wheeler.
"I played with him a few years back," Krejci said of Ryder. "We have good chemistry we had a really good year. I played with him last game for a few shifts. We've been playing together for some time and we know each other pretty well. So if I play with him then we know what to expect of each other."
Peverley also saw some time on that line in Game 3 after Horton was hurt, and could be used there again if Claude Julien wants to keep Ryder with Seguin and Chris Kelly on the third line.
"If I'm there, I'll just try to use my speed and get in on the forecheck," Peverley said. "Obviously they're both skilled players and Looch is pretty good down low. I'll just get in and get in on the forecheck."
Seguin, meanwhile, will be looking to take advantage of another chance in the lineup, but don't expect him to have quite the impact he had the first time he was inserted into the playoffs. After sitting out the first two rounds, Seguin scored six points in his first two games against Tampa Bay, but did not have another point in his next seven games before being scratched on Monday.
"It's a new series here," Seguin said. "Obviously the last game I was in the stands, so if I'm in tonight I want to seize that opportunity and play well. I'm not saying I'm going to have four points in the second period, I'm just saying I want to play well."
For Vancouver, Keith Ballard is expected to step in for Rome on defense. Ballard has played with Kevin Bieksa before, so he could step right into Rome's spot on that pairing.
"For me, I don't think much can change regardless of who I'm playing with," Bieksa said. "If it's Keith, I know his tendencies pretty well and I'll try to keep my game simple and help him out as much as possible. I have full confidence he'll play a good game for us."
The Canucks are expected to still have defenseman Dan Hamhuis out as well. He has not played since suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 1.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Rich Peverley-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
Jeff Tambellini-Manny Malhotra-Victor Oreskovich
Defense
Sami Salo-Alexander Edler
Keith Ballard-Kevin Bieksa
Andrew Alberts-Christian Ehrhoff
Goalies
Roberto Luongo
Cory Schneider
Scratches: Dan Hamhuis (undisclosed injury), Aaron Rome (suspended), Alexandre Bolduc, Christopher Tanev, Tanner Glass, Aaron Volpatti, Cory Hodgson, Sergei Shirokov, Eddie Lack
