The Boston Bruins will play the second of back-to-back games Thursday night against the rival Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
The first game was a 6-1 defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. It was the Bruins’ most lopsided loss since the Detroit Red Wings beat them by the same score on Nov. 27, 2013.
Boston called up center Alexander Khokhlachev from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis Thursday morning, and it’s not yet clear if an injury is behind this decision. The Russian forward has played well for Providence this season with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 12 games.
The Bruins have lost three of their last four games (playoffs included) at the Bell Centre, including the first meeting this season on Oct. 16. Montreal won 6-4 and struck twice on the power play. Tuukka Rask was pulled from the game as his struggles against the Canadiens continued.
David Krejci won’t be in the lineup for Boston because of an undisclosed injury. The team’s first-line center did not travel on the road trip.
The Bruins have not announced who still start in net. Rask gave up four goals against the Leafs and was pulled in the second period. He’s 0-2 with an .851 save percentage in second games of back-to-backs this season, so it’s possible backup Niklas Svedberg could get the start versus Montreal.
Sergei Gonchar will make his season debut for the Habs after they acquired him Tuesday from the Dallas Stars via trade. The veteran defenseman is expected to help a Montreal power play that ranks 28th in the league with a 7.1 percent success rate.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (10-7-0, 4th in Atlantic)
Milan Lucic-Chris Kelly/Alexander Khoklachev-Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly/MattFraser-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Simon Gagne/Matt Fraser
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton
Adam McQuaid-Joe Morrow
Torey Krug-Zach Trotman
Extra: Matt Bartkowski
MONTREAL CANADIENS (11-4-1, 2nd in Atlantic)
Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-P.A. Parenteau
Alex Galchenyuk-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher
Brandon Prust-Lars Eller-Jiri Sekac
Drayson Bowman-Manny Malhotra-Dale Weise
Andre Markov-P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin-Mike Weaver
Sergei Gonchar-Tom Gilbert
Thumbnail photo via Paul Chiasson/Associated Press
