UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin will get his second start of the season Monday afternoon against the Nashville Predators.

Poulin, who was recently named the Player of the Week in the American Hockey League, made 26 saves in a 3-2 loss against Dallas on Dec. 15 after being recalled on an emergency basis that same day. He was sent back to Bridgeport the following day, but was again recalled last Monday on an emergency basis and has been practicing with the club.

"Sitting with our coaches and goalie coach we thought this would be the right time to give him a start," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "I think he's a little bit more confident. Kevin has always been one of those guys that has a swagger to him, he has the right attitude and he wants to be the guy. His play after training camp, going to Bridgeport, getting the time, he's got a little bit more confidence. Hopefully he goes out there and gives us a chance."

Poulin will likely remain the backup to Evgeni Nabokov for the foreseeable future. Al Montoya remains out with a concussion and Rick DiPietro might be sidelined for the season after undergoing sports hernia surgery.

Poulin went 4-2-1 with a .924 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average in 10 appearances last season.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Dennis Wideman picked up his phone Thursday afternoon, heard the voice on the other end, and figured he was wrong.

"I didn't know what was going on, but in my experience when the GM calls you it's usually not good news," Wideman said smiling.

This time it wasn't. This time, it was Washington general manager George McPhee calling Wideman to tell him he had been selected to play in his first career NHL All-Star Game.

Wideman was among 10 defensemen picked on Thursday to join fan vote favorites Erik Karlsson and Dion Phaneuf in the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game, which will be played Jan. 29 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

To say Wideman was surprised at McPhee's news is an understatement.

"I got the call from George, and you guys all know, you've talked to George, he's pretty even keeled and when he called me I was like, 'Oh man, where am I going now?' " Wideman said. "It was good. I was pretty excited -- a little caught off guard, but excited about it."

Wideman earned his spot in the All-Star Game with strong offensive numbers in the first half. He has eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points in 41 games, including 16 points in his last 17 games.

He'll join five-time All-Star Alex Ovechkin as the Capitals representatives in Ottawa.

"I think it's going to be an experience," Wideman said. "Obviously guys that have been there eight, nine, 10 times they might want a break, but for me and guys that are getting picked for their first time it's really exciting to get a chance to go and see what it's all about. I've been watching it on TV for years, so it should be exciting."

Wideman isn't quite sure what he'll be asked to do in the 2012 Molson Canadian NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 28, but he has his own ideas of what he'll be good at.

"I'm hoping that we don't all have to do skills and I'm one of the ones that doesn't have to do it," he said. "I'm not even sure what all of them are, but hopefully I can just hold a camera and take some pictures."

Wideman said he will have to cancel a planned trip home in order to go to Ottawa, but he's happy to do it. He also said he will have some family there, but who remains to be seen.

"I'm not even sure how it all works, how many tickets you get," he said.

He's looking forward to figuring it out soon.

"It's something that at some point in your career you hope you get a chance to do," Wideman said of playing in an All-Star Game, "and I was lucky enough this year to get the opportunity."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Washington Capitals put center Nicklas Backstrom on injured reserve Wednesday morning and offered no timetable for his return other than to say he can be activated at any point.

Backstrom, who watched practice from the bench while wearing a red hoodie, has missed the last two games since taking a flagrant elbow to the head from Calgary forward Rene Bourque in last Tuesday's game against Calgary. Bourque was suspended for five games for the infraction.

"We're being cautious with him still," Capitals coach Dale Hunter said. "He's not feeling 100 percent, so we're being careful."

The Capitals will also again be without defenseman Mike Green when they face Pittsburgh on Wednesday at Verizon Center. Green re-injured his groin this past Saturday at San Jose and missed the game at Los Angeles on Monday.

Green previously missed 23 straight games after initially injuring his groin Nov. 11 at New Jersey. The game against San Jose was his first one back, but he played only nine shifts totaling 7:11 before having to leave. He was seen walking with a noticeable limp when he arrived at Kettler Capitals Iceplex Wednesday morning.

"He's getting strength. He needs more strength," Hunter said. "Once he gets enough strength he'll be good. It's one of those things where it won't be long term, but it just takes time to build that up a little bit more."

Washington used Backstrom's roster spot to call up defenseman Tomas Kundratek from Hershey of the AHL. Kundratek will make his season debut Wednesday against Pittsburgh. He will be paired with Roman Hamrlik.

John Erskine and Jeff Schultz will be the Capitals' healthy scratches on defense.

"He's been playing well down there so we thought we'd give him the chance up here to see what he can do and get a look at him," Hunter said. "I've seen him play once. He's a good skater and he moves the puck. So, we're anxious to take a look at him at this level. We like his mobility, that he can skate, and when you're playing well down there you get to come up here and play."

Tomas Vokoun will make his seventh straight start. He gave up four goals on 27 shots and was pulled after two periods in Monday's 5-2 loss at Los Angeles, but Hunter said the Capitals played poorly in front of Vokoun and didn't give him a chance.

"He's a veteran," Hunter said. "He'll be ready to go."

Here are Washington's projected forward lines and defense pairings based off of the morning skate:

Alex Ovechkin - Marcus Johansson - Alexander Semin
Troy Brouwer - Brooks Laich - Mike Knuble
Jason Chimera - Jeff Halpern - Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks - Mathieu Perreault - Jay Beagle

Karl Alzner - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Dennis Wideman
Roman Hamrlik - Tomas Kundratek

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

NEWARK, N.J. -- Between their 4-2 loss to Dallas on New Year's Eve and Wednesday's game against the Devils, the Bruins have had a chance to have several quality days of hard, workmanlike practices. Boston coach Claude Julien knows how important those days will be with the Bruins starting a stretch of three games in four days and 12 games in 20 days before the All-Star break.

"It's not going to get any easier for us from here on in," Julien said Wednesday morning. "We recognize that as a group, and it's going to be a good challenge for us as a group."

Julien is happy with the approach of his players, too, especially because he knows how easy it could be for them to look forward to Saturday's Stanley Cup Final rematch against Vancouver at TD Garden.

"The Vancouver game at the end of the week will be a rematch, but I think our guys are really looking at one game at a time and seeing that this game is the one we have to have our focus on," Julien said. "Where probably on the outside everybody is looking forward to that Saturday game against Vancouver, we haven't talked about it in the dressing room and I haven't heard players mention it. Our focus is living in the moment."

The moment brings them to their second of four games against the Devils this season. The Bruins beat the Devils, 4-3, in Boston on Nov. 15. At the time it was their sixth of 10 straight victories to start November, but Julien remembers how difficult a win it was to get.

It took Benoit Pouliot scoring with 3:01 left in the third period for the Bruins to finally put the Devils away. New Jersey had fought back from deficits of 2-1 and 3-2 in the third period.

"They've got a reputation of being a hard team to play against, and every night it's that same challenge of battling through their defensive system, and also they're a team that has good size," Julien said. "They're a heavy team, they're strong on the puck and you look at their games, how they win battles along the boards, protect the puck and strip guys of the puck -- it's because of the heavy game they play. We have to be aware of that."
 
Here are the the Bruins' projected lines and defense pairs:

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot - Chris Kelly - Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg - Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference - Adam McQuaid

Tim Thomas, who was in net for the win over New Jersey in November, will get the start. He's backed up by Tuukka Rask.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

NEWARK, N.J. -- Devils goalie Johan Hedberg and star forward Ilya Kovalchuk have more riding on Thursday's World Junior Championship gold-medal game between Sweden and Russia than just national pride.

"Just a small cash bet, not much," Hedberg told NHL.com. "It's just more for bragging rights."

Hedberg, who is from Leksand, Sweden, said he and Kovalchuk made their bet upon arrival at Prudential Center Wednesday morning. The Russians beat Canada 6-5 on Tuesday while Sweden beat Finland 3-2 in a shootout to advance to the gold-medal game.

Russia is looking for its second straight World Juniors gold while Sweden hasn't won it since 1981.

"We're going to stand by our boys," Hedberg said. "It was pretty much a sure thing that there would be some kind of a bet on a game like that. Kovy is not the guy to back down."

Hedberg said there hasn't been any trash talking as of yet.

"Absolutely not, but Kovy is great because he has a lot of knowledge about the Russians and he takes interest in the young guys, to see who is coming up," Hedberg said. "And obviously I have an interest in the Swedes."

Hedberg and Kovalchuk will not be watching the game together. Hedberg said he'll be with his fellow countrymen, Henrik Tallinder, Jacob Josefsen, Mattias Tedenby and Adam Larsson, who, by the way, is old enough to play in the World Juniors but is instead going through a successful rookie season with the Devils.

"The Swedes are going to watch it together," he said. "We were at Jacob's (Josefsen) apartment (Tuesday) and we watched it. It was exciting. It felt like it was coming. If they kept doing what they were doing they were going to get rewarded sooner or later, and they did. I really like them. I like the way they play and I like their fighting spirit."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Devils will be without both center Travis Zajac and defenseman Anton Volchenkov for Wednesday's game against Boston (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network).

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said that Volchenkov, who missed Monday's game in Ottawa with a lower-body injury, "is still resting his leg." He added that Zajac, who missed the first 30 games of the season after having surgery on his left Achilles tendon in August, is experiencing soreness and is day-to-day.

Zajac has played in every game since making his season debut against Dallas on Dec. 16, but he has been given the occasional day off to rest. He did not take part in Tuesday's optional practice either.

"He has a little soreness and we won't take any chances," Lamoriello said. "We have spoken to the doctors. There is nothing structurally wrong. He's OK, but we're going to rest him and he'll be day to day."

Lamoriello said the doctors told him that Zajac would likely experience soreness after returning to the ice. He said it's similar to what Zach Parise went through after his surgery last year to repair a torn ACL.

"This is normal," Lamoriello said. "Anybody with these types of injuries, there's going to be soreness. It's part of rehabilitation. We actually waited a week more than we had to when the doctor released him, but we're going to take every precaution possible."

Devils coach Peter DeBoer said that Tim Sestito will go into the lineup and Ryan Carter will move up into Zajac's spot to center the third line between David Clarkson and Mattias Tedenby.

"We were mentally prepared and warned that there was going to be some bumps in the road here," DeBoer said. "Obviously a real significant injury and he was coming back at the front end of the time period they had allotted for it, so I'm not concerned about it. We'll just keep moving forward."

Lamoriello also confirmed that defenseman Andy Greene (fractured foot) is out of his cast and in a walking boot, but is still a few weeks away from playing.

Here are the Devils projected forward lines and defense pairs for Wednesday's game against Boston:

Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Eric Boulton - Tim Sestito - Cam Janssen

Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Adam Larsson
Matt Taormina - Kurtis Foster

Martin Brodeur will make his fourth straight start, backed up by Johan Hedberg.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

Scott Hartnell said Sunday that Flyers leading scorer Claude Giroux deserves credit for helping him become a harder worker off the ice this season.

"He's our hardest-working player, and I think that says a lot to the teammates and even young kids growing up that want to have someone to look at," Hartnell said of Giroux, who has 45 points this season as the center between Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr. "My dad always told me to be the hardest-working player every time you're on the ice, and he definitely is. Playing with him this year, it rubs off on me. I've taken care of myself better, done more in the gym, stayed after practice a little bit longer to do things. It's been incredible for me and every player watching the game. He's just a great player to emulate."

Hartnell, though, also gave credit to Jagr for the success of the Flyers top line. The trio has combined for 46 goals and 64 assists this season, including 17 goals and 17 assists for Hartnell.

"At first it was like, 'Holy man, this guy is on our team.' Then it was like, 'Oh my gosh, this guy is on our line.' I'm still shocked by it," Hartnell said of Jagr. "He wants to be the best player that's ever played and he makes me practice better and makes 'G' practice better. He wants to score goals all the time. We try to be the best line on the ice every night. It's been awesome for my career. I'm just blessed to be with them right now."

Speaking of Jagr, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said the 39-year-old veteran had no clue who Giroux was before he got to the Flyers.

"He had been out of the League for three years so he didn't know who he was, but I think he knows him now and he's happy to be playing with him," Holmgren said. "You're talking about high-end offensive players, and the more you have playing together the more success you can have. Those two guys think the game at a different level."

Hartnell has been the beneficiary.

PHILADELPHIA -- Flyers rookie Zac Rinaldo got to meet his hero Saturday inside the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park.

Rinaldo approached Eric Lindros following the Molson Canadian 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game and told the ex-Flyer great that he is the only reason he gained a passion for hockey as a young kid growing up in Hamilton, Ont.

"He's the only reason I watched hockey, really," Rinaldo said of Lindros. "I told him if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be the player I am today, and that's the truth. I don't think I would be able to hit the way I want to. I didn't like watching hockey if he wasn't playing. If he was playing, I'd watch."

Rinaldo said he was able to get Lindros to sign his jersey. Rinaldo's father also took a picture with Lindros.

"(Lindros) will be at the game (Monday), so hopefully I can put on a good show for him," Rinaldo said. "Maybe we can keep in touch.

"He was really humble. He's a really great guy."

Rinaldo, one of the Flyers resident pugilists who has 110 penalty minutes this season, did say if he got to play in Lindros' era, he wouldn't have backed down from the powerful center.

"He'd be the first guy to go after," Rinaldo said. "I wouldn't ask him to fight. I'd give him a little respect, but I'd definitely try to hit him. He'd probably put me on my (butt), but I'd be honored to take a hit from that guy."

Glenn Anderson got a penalty shot opportunity with 5:01 to play due to a Flyers penalty, but Neil Little came up with an arm save to keep the puck out and preserve the Flyers 3-1 lead.

The Rangers tested Little a few more times before time finally wore out and the home team walked off the field with a 3-1 victory.

New York eventually pulled goalie Dan Blackburn with just over a minute left, but it didn't work.

The crowd of 45,808 thoroughly enjoyed the alumni game today. It was fun to watch from the press box, too.

If I had to give out three stars, they'd go to:

1. Bernie Parent -- 6 saves in four minutes, stole the show early

2. Dan Blackburn -- Tremendous game from the guy who had his career cut short due to injury

3. Shjon Podein -- Used his plethora of ice time well and scored a goal

Time winding down here and the Rangers need a goal.

It remains 3-1 with under eight minutes left and the chants of "Let's go Flyers" are coming from the first base side of the stands.

Give these guys credit, they're still going hard with now under seven minutes to play.