BOSTON – The Bruins will take the ice sitting outside of first place in the Northeast Division for the first time since November.
Ottawa took over the division lead with an overtime win over Montreal on Friday, but the Bruins can retake the top spot with a win over Philadelphia and a Senators loss to Toronto on Saturday. Beating the Flyers won't be easy, though, as Philadelphia is 7-1-0 in March.
The Bruins will make at least one lineup change, as Claude Julien announced before the game that Joe Corvo will be a healthy scratch on defense. The other seven defensemen will all skate in warm-ups, with the final scratch a game-time decision likely between newcomers Mike Mottau and Greg Zanon.
Up front, Trent Whitfield was brought up from Providence again on emergency recall and will take warm-ups. That move is just a precaution though, as Julien does not want to be caught short at forward if any of his banged up players are unable to go. If everyone is fine after warm-ups, Whitfield will be the odd man out.
The Flyers have several injuries of their own, with defensemen Pavel Kubina (upper body) and Andrej Meszaros (lower body) both expected to remain out. Ilya Bryzgalov is expected in goal. He's 7-0-0 with an 0.99 GAA, .965 save percentage and four shutouts in his last seven starts, but has allowed 10 goals in his last two games against the Bruins.
Dave Jackson and Francois St. Laurent will be the referees, with Derek Amell and Brad Kovachik working the lines.
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jordan Caron
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Brian Rolston
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Greg Zanon-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Marty Turco
Scratches: Joe Corvo, Nathan Horton (concussion), Rich Peverley (knee), Tuukka Rask (groin), Mike Mottau, Trent Whitfield
Projected Flyers lines
Forwards
Scott Hartnell-Claude Giroux-Jaromir Jagr
Eric Wellwood-Danny Briere-Jakub Voracek
Matt Read-Brayden Schenn-Wayne Simmonds
Zac Rinaldo-Sean Couturier-Maxime Talbot
Defense
Matt Carle-Kimmo Timonen
Nicklas Grossmann-Braydon Colburn
Andreas Lilja-Erik Gustafsson
Goalies
Ilya Bryzgalov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratches: Jody Shelley, Pavel Kubina (upper body), Andrej Meszaros (lower body), Tom Sestito (groin), James van Riemsdyk (foot)
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