Bruins at Panthers
The Boston Bruins' once-firm hold on the second wild card in the Eastern Conference has all but disappeared as they prepare to visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. The Bruins have dropped three in a row and had their lead trimmed to two points over Ottawa while Florida has moved into striking range of Boston, sitting five points back. "We have to step up our game if we want to end up where we want to end up at the end of the year," Boston forward Milan Lucic said.
The Bruins will be looking to continue their dominance over the Panthers, having won nine in a row overall in the series and eight of nine meetings at Florida. Starting netminder Roberto Luongo returned to the lineup after missing six games due to a shoulder injury and helped Florida end a two-game skid with a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. "I wasn't sure what to expect," Luongo said. "I was really happy with the way I felt."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FSN Florida
ABOUT THE BRUINS (36-24-11): Center David Krejci is poised to return to the lineup after missing 13 games due to a partially torn ligament in his left knee - and it could be at a different position. Coach Claude Julien said rookie Ryan Spooner, who had two goals Thursday, will continue to center a line with Lucic and rookie David Pastrnak, opening the possibility that Krejci will be shifted to right wing on a line Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. “I’m open for whatever,” Krejci said. “I’m excited to play. I’m excited to play on the wing or center. We’ll see what happens.”
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (32-25-14): Jaromir Jagr scored his second goal on Thursday since he was acquired from New Jersey at the trade deadline and it was a memorable one. Jagr broke a scoreless deadlock and surpassed Phil Esposito for fifth place on the all-time scoring list with his 718th career tally. “He’s been great since he’s been here, brings a different dynamic to our group of forwards,” Luongo said of Jagr, who is playing on a unit with Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov. “Their line creates a ton of chances and that makes them hard to defend.”
OVERTIME
1. Florida's last win over Boston came on March 15, 2012.
2. Bruins G Tuukka Rask is 11-1-0 with a 1.07 goals-against average and three shutouts versus Florida.
3. Ex-Bruin Shawn Thornton will become the third player to ever appear in 600 NHL and American Hockey League games on Saturday.