The last time the Boston Bruins were in Detroit, things didn’t go so well for the Black and Gold. The B’s were drubbed on Thanksgiving Eve in one of their worst losses of the season.
They’ll finally have a chance for some payback Wednesday night.
The B’s are back in the Motor City to face the Red Wings for the first time since Detroit put that 6-1 beating on Boston. The rematch will feature a much different-looking Red Wings squad, though.
Some of the Red Wings’ most important players have been hampered by injuries all season. Henrik Zetterberg (back) is out until at least the playoffs. Pavel Datsyuk (knee) hoped to return against the Bruins, but his conditioning isn’t where it needs to be. Detroit also will be without another top forward, Daniel Alfredsson, who is suffering from a lower body injury, general manager Ken Holland said.
The Bruins head into the matchup without Jarome Iginla, who was a surprising scratch with what the team called a lower body injury. He’ll be replaced by Jordan Caron, who will skate on the third line while Loui Eriksson mans Iginla’s spot on the first line.
The entire Boston roster, including the recently called-up Ryan Spooner, made the trip to Detroit. Spooner was recalled from Providence in case Carl Soderberg (whose wife is about to go into labor) and David Krejci (sore throat) couldn’t go Wednesday, but both are set to be in the Bruins’ lineup.
Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice at Bruins morning skate, which means he’ll be in net against the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard should get the call for Detroit.
Here are the rest of the projected lines and defensive pairings for Wednesday night’s game.
Bruins (52-17-6, 110 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci —Â Loui Eriksson
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly — Carl Soderberg —Â Jordan Caron
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowski — Torey Krug
Andrej Meszaros — Kevan Miller
Red Wings (35-26-14, 84 points)
Johan Franzen — David Legwand — Gustav Nyquist
Tomas Tatar — Riley Sheahan — Tomas Jurco
Justin Abdelkader — Darren Helm — Joakim Andersson
Drew Miller — Luke Glendening — Todd Bertuzzi
Niklas Kronwall — Brendan Smith
Kyle Quincey — Dan DeKeyser
Jakub Kindl — Brian Lashoff
