It appears Frank Vatrano will make his return to the Boston Bruins’ lineup Wednesday night after spending the last two months in the minors.
The Bruins on Tuesday recalled Vatrano from Providence, and the 22-year-old winger rotated with Landon Ferraro on the fourth line during Wednesday’s morning skate at Madison Square Garden, according to the team. Ferraro reportedly was one four players who remained on the ice for extra work after the session, meaning Vatrano is likely to play as Boston visits the New York Rangers.
Vatrano, who leads the American Hockey League with 33 goals this season, recorded six goals and an assist in a 30-game stint with Boston that stretched from early November to mid-January.
Winger Brett Connolly reportedly also stayed on after the skate, indicating he’ll likely be a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game.
“I think our top two lines have been producing on a fairly regular basis, but we need a little bit of secondary scoring here,” Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters after Tuesday’s practice, via BostonBruins.com. “And if (Vatrano) gets in there, hopefully he has some scoring and he can give us some of that.”
The Bruins’ third and fourth lines have combined to produce just one goal over the team’s last six games. Boston lost four of those contests, including each of the last three.
Tuukka Rask is expected to start in net against the Rangers after missing Tuesday’s practice with an illness. Goalie Jeremy Smith was recalled from Providence on an emergency basis and traveled with the team to New York, but he was sent back to the AHL after morning skate.
UPDATE (8 p.m. ET): Tyler Randell, not Ferraro sat out the game as a healthy scratch. Ferraro was penciled in on the fourth line with Vatrano and Noel Acciari.
Here are Wednesday’s lines and pairings:
BOSTON BRUINS (39-26-8)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Lee Stempniak
Loui Eriksson — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey — Ryan Spooner — Jimmy Hayes
Frank Vatrano — Noel Acciari — Landon Ferraro
Zdeno Chara — Kevan Miller
John-Michael Liles — Dennis Seidenberg
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
NEW YORK RANGERS (41-24-8)
Rick Nash — Derick Brassard — Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider — Derek Stepan — Mats Zuccarello
J.T Miller — Eric Staal — Kevin Hayes
Tanner Glass — Dominic Moore — Viktor Stalberg
Ryan McDonagh — Kevin Klein
Marc Staal — Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle — Dan Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
