Boston Bruins Shake Up Their Lines
The Boston Bruins may have to seriously juggle their roster when they take on the Minnesota Wild tonight at the TD Garden.
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The Boston Bruins have had a rough couple of days with the injury bug. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask is still listed as day-to-day going into tonight’s match against the Minnesota Wild. Now backup goaltender Anton Khudobin is temporarily out of action to a wrist injury sustained at practice. This leaves the relatively untested Malcolm Subban as the likely choice to start tonight against the Wild.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien understands that the situation is not ideal for the Black and Gold. Still, it’s his job to put the right pieces in place so the team has the best chance of winning.
“This is hockey. We deal with it on a day-to-day basis with injuries and you wait for the news and you go about doing your job as required,” said Julien. “If we have to make some adjustments and we have to [change] some personnel, we’ll go over that when we have more of an update.
“Same thing with Tuukka…he’s still day-to-day, so nothing’s changed. I don’t know what the situation is for [Minnesota]. I can’t give it to you because no decision has been made on him.”
The Bruins are moving more than just their goaltenders around for tonight’s match against the Wild. Forward Ryan Spooner was moved of the Krejci line to center a new third line for Boston. Spooner will be paired up with Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes. Beleskey and Hayes have both had slow starts for Boston, and Julien hopes it will stimulate scoring from that line.
Julien was also clear that this wasn’t a demotion for Spooner, who was one of the bright spots in the Bruins 4-2 loss to the Canadiens .
“This is not about Ryan Spooner not doing the job on the wing,” said Julien. “I thought he had a decent game and he did score last game… maybe to create a little more offense there. I think that line’s just been flat and we need a little bit more throughout our lineup.”
Defenseman Adam McQuaid may also make his season debut against the Wild. McQuaid was cleared to play against the Montreal Canadiens, but Julien thought it best at the time not to put him on the ice. “He was cleared last game, too,” said Julien of McQuaid. “Again, I’m not trying to hide anything here. I just haven’t made any decisions [for the Minnesota game]. There are a lot of things that are up in the air right now and I’ve just got to juggle those things and who knows?”
Next: Boston Bruins Recall Malcolm Subban From Providence
The Bruins could certainly use a win against the Wild. The B’s know every point is important. They’ll just have to dig deep (and a little deeper is Subban is in net) and find the character to take two points from the Wild this evening at the TD Garden.