The Bruins return to action Wednesday night in New Jersey, where they will look to begin a new win streak after falling 4-2 in Dallas on Saturday.
The Bruins remain fully healthy for this one. Rich Peverley will have to monitor his nagging undisclosed injury throughout the season, but he returned on Saturday and practiced Monday and Tuesday. He will remain in the lineup, which keeps Zach Hamill as the healthy scratch up front.
Steven Kampfer will also remain the odd man out on defense, while Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate. That indicates he should be the starter against New Jersey. With the Bruins playing back-to-back games, Tuukka Rask will likely draw the starting assignment against Calgary in Boston on Thursday.
The Devils aren’t quite as healthy as Boston. Center Travis Zajac will miss the game with soreness in his Achilles heel, which he had surgery on last summer. Ryan Carter moves up to center the third line in Zaac’s place, with Tim Sestito returning to the lineup to center the fourth line.
New Jersey’s defense will also be shorthanded with Anton Volchenkov missing his second straight game with a lower-body strain.
Martin Brodeur is expected to get the start in goal for New Jersey. The future Hall of Famer has struggled a bit this season with an 11-9-1 record, 2.85 GAA and .893 save percentage, but he has flashed his old form of late with a 5-1-1 record and a 2.22 GAA in his last seven starts.
Stephane Auger and Dan O’Halloran will be the referees, with Darren Gibbs and Mark Wheler working the lines.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Zach Hamill, Steven Kampfer
Projected Devils lines
Forwards
Zach Parise-Adam Henrique-Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora-Patrik Elias-Dainius Zubrus
Mttias Tedenby-Ryan Carter-David Clarkson
Eric Boulton-Tim Sestito-Cam Russell
Defense
Bryce Salvador-Adam Larsson
Mark Fayne-Henrik Tallinder
Kurtis Foster-Matt Taormina
Goalies
Martin Brodeur
Johan Hedberg
Scratches: Travis Zajac (Achilles), Anton Volchenkov (lower body)
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