BOSTON -- There will be no homecoming for Tim Thomas on Thursday in Boston.

Although the goaltender traveled with the Florida Panthers for the game against his old team, the Boston Bruins, Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said the two-time Vezina Trophy winner remains on injured reserve and will not play. Thomas, who faced the Bruins in a 3-2 loss Oct. 17 in Florida, has not played at TD Garden since leaving the Bruins for a one-season sabbatical following the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Scott Clemmensen, a Boston College alum, will get the start for the Panthers, who are 0-2-4 in their past six games. In six career NHL games at the Garden, Clemmensen is 3-2-0 with a 3.14 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.

"That gives us a good option," Dineen said of Clemmensen playing in Boston. "It's like a lot of things. We have depth at every position and we've certainly taken advantage of it early."

BOSTON -- There's understandable hype around Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley returning to face the Boston Bruins as members of the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

Seguin and Peverley were integral parts of the Bruins' teams the past three seasons, including the Stanley Cup championship season of 2010-11.

But the game also will be the first opportunity for the Stars to face their former teammate Loui Eriksson, who was the centerpiece of the package Dallas sent to Boston for Seguin and Peverley. Eriksson will be in the lineup after missing five games with a concussion.

"For me, four years with him was great," Stars captain Jamie Benn said of Eriksson. "We know Loui's such a great player. He brought a lot to this team and it was tough to see him go."

BOSTON -- Teemu Selanne's injured mouth sustained in the Anaheim Ducks' win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday added to the team's lengthy list of injured players.

But with Selanne back in California awaiting oral surgery, the team will get one body back against the Boston Bruins on Thursday as Dustin Penner will get back in the lineup after a five-game absence.

Penner took part in the morning skate Wednesday and will make his return to the lineup Wednesday night. It will be his first game since Oct. 20, when he sustained a concussion on a hit by the Dallas Stars' Ryan Garbutt. Garbutt was suspended for five games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for the hit.

BOSTON – The news for the New Jersey Devils on Friday was that Martin Brodeur would get the start against the Boston Bruins on Saturday after three straight starts for Cory Schneider.

The Devils revealed Saturday there was more to that decision than a desire to get Brodeur into his first game since Oct. 17. Schneider is out with a lower-body injury and didn't even make the trip to his hometown. The projection for his return is up in the air.

"I don't know the answer to that. I think it's short-term, but I don't know," coach Peter DeBoer said after his team's morning skate.

BOSTON -- The San Jose Sharks will play the second game of their five-game road trip Thursday (7 p.m. ET, NHLN-US) against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

They're expected to have one new face in their lineup for the game, but they had a familiar face join them for their morning skate for the first time in a little while.

Mike Brown, who was acquired in trade with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, is expected to make his Sharks debut Thursday, according to coach Todd McLellan. Defenseman Dan Boyle, who has missed three games with an upper-body injury and didn't travel with the team for the start of the road trip, skated with the Sharks on Thursday. McLellan said Boyle won't play against the Bruins, but there was no holding Boyle back from accelerating his recovery.

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins, who are 2-0-0 on the season, haven't played since they beat the Detroit Red Wings at home last Saturday.

That's given the players some time to practice and make community appearances, and it freed up some time for coach Claude Julien to prepare for a visit by the Colorado Avalanche -- in more ways than one.

Julien was asked Thursday after his team's morning skate if the time off gave him a chance to think about the Olympics. Julien is scheduled to be an assistant coach for Team Canada.

"Yeah, the Olympics," he said. "And then I spent the last couple of days solidifying the glass between the benches."

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins searched for most of the season and the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs for third-line production and rarely got it.

This season, they're plan was to rectify that. Although an injury to Carl Soderberg changed the formation of the Bruins' third line prior to the Thursday's season opener, Jordan Caron joined center Chris Kelly and right wing Reilly Smith to form a group that was strong at both ends of the rink in the 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With Soderberg still out with an ankle injury, that trio figures to be together again against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday at TD Garden.

"They've got to be able to generate some stuff, some scoring opportunities, which is what we talked about last year about trying to find with our third line," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after his team's morning skate. "So right now, they've given us that. I thought last game they spent some time in the offensive zone. I thought they did a great job forechecking and creating some things."

BOSTON -- Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Sami Salo was scratched against the Boston Bruins on Thursday because of an upper-body injury.

Salo, 39, took part in the morning skate but did not warm up with the team. He was tied for second on the Lightning last season with a plus-5 rating.

BOSTON -- It's finally time for the Boston Bruins to unleash their much-hyped offseason acquisitions Thursday, as the Bruins will host the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden in the season opener for both clubs.

Loui Eriksson and Jarome Iginla are scheduled to make their debuts with Boston and play on the lines they were projected to skate with in the summer, and played with all through training camp. Eriksson will line up with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, while Iginla will skate with David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Bruins coach Claude Julien said Krejci, who recently missed time with back spasms, will be in against the Lightning.

It'll be important for the Bruins' new top two lines to forge early chemistry.

"I think we feel pretty good out there," Eriksson said after the Bruins' morning skate. "We've been having lot of practices together and we played a few [preseason] games together too. So I think everyone is excited to get going here and start playing."

BOSTON -- Although the Boston Bruins' run to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final made for an abbreviated offseason, Zdeno Chara's summer mostly was uneventful.

The 36-year-old defenseman said he stuck to his same offseason workout regimen, despite rehabilitating a hip-pointer injury. He still refuses to speak about the injury or admit it hindered his performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chara also mixed in plenty of family time and a brief vacation in Florida. However, even when relaxing Chara couldn't escape a little modern-day controversy. As a devoted friend to and Slovakian Olympic teammate of Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa, Chara agreed to attend his countryman's Cup championship celebration party.

No one should think that Chara completely enjoyed that experience.