TORONTO -- Toronto Maple Leafs forward Dave Bolland has been out of action since Nov. 7 when a tendon in his ankle was cut by the skate blade of Vancouver Canucks forward Zack Kassian.

Bolland resumed skating in Toronto this week and spoke to the media Saturday for the first time since getting back on the ice.

DAVE BOLLAND

CENTER - TOR

GOALS: 6 | ASST: 4 | PTS: 10
SOG: 27 | +/-: 4

"It's not like any other rehab when you break an ankle and you can just say six weeks and you're back and it's healed," Bolland said. "You cut a tendon and it's got to re-heal itself. You've got to do the rehab, do the movements with the trainers and in the gym. It's not fun. It's grueling.

"You're always in the gym, you're always doing the things. You want to get back on the ice and you want to play but these are the things you've got to do to get back on the ice. Now I'm at that step back on the ice. Now it's just trying to get back into the game."

Bolland had surgery on the tendon shortly after he sustained the injury. It's a good sign that he's returned to the ice to skate, but it doesn't come without pain.

ST. LOUIS -- Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau understands a thing or two about what the St. Louis Blues are getting with the addition of Alexander Steen to their lineup Saturday.

"I think he's a big addition, and 24 goals doesn't hurt adding to your lineup," Boudreau said. "It solidifies, I think, a lot of their lines. Now they can have back their 1-2-3-4 instead of mixing and matching [lines] a little bit."

Steen will return for the Blues (32-9-5) after missing 11 games with a concussion. He skated on a top line with David Backes and T.J. Oshie at the team's morning skate Saturday.

"I took it at my own pace," said Steen, who has 38 points in 35 games. "I feel like we're ready to go. I think everybody who [returns] has to be 100-percent confident. It's not just the way I play. Once you're in you've got to go back in and play."

TORONTO -- The Montreal Canadiens will have a pair of new players in the lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, CBC, RDS), with defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and forward Joonas Nattinen drawing in. For Nattinen, it will mark his NHL debut.

"A hat trick, a great night in Montreal. But this'll do, I can do a hat trick here," Nättinen said describing what he pictured happening in his first NHL game. "I'm just trying to enjoy all the minutes I'll get there and play as good as I can for this team."

To make room for Nattinen, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said Rene Bourque will be a healthy scratch. Nattinen likely will play on a line with rugged forwards Travis Moen and George Parros.

Defenseman Raphael Diaz did not skate Friday or at the morning skate Saturday and appears to be the likely removed for Beaulieu. Carey Price will start in goal.

NASHVILLE -- Four days after being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers, goaltender Devan Dubnyk is set to make his first start with the Nashville Predators on Saturday as they host the Colorado Avalanche.

With the trade, which sent forward Matt Hendricks to the Oilers, Dubnyk will go from playing behind one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL to one that traditionally plays with much more of a defensive emphasis. Nashville entered play Saturday ranked 20th in the League in goals-against per game at 2.88 but has had one of the worst team save percentages in the League. That issue and the hip infection that has kept top goaltender Pekka Rinne out of the lineup for much of the season is what compelled the Predators to trade for Dubnyk.

"They're real structured," said Dubnyk, who backed up Carter Hutton in a 4-3 shootout win against thePhiladelphia Flyers on Thursday. "It was fun to sit and just kind of be a part of it in Philly. I thought we played a great game there. Just the energy level and the way guys work here is contagious and is fun to be a part of."

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes will try to break a scoring drought that has resulted in back-to-back shutout losses against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames when they face the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

To address their scoring issues the Hurricanes have reunited Jiri Tlusty, Eric Staal and Alexander Semin, the team's top line from last season. This season the trio has combined for 22 goals through 46 games; last season they had 54.

"I just want them to be one of our hardest working lines. That's all," coach Kirk Muller said Saturday morning. "They're capable of scoring and making plays. But if they put the work ethic into it -- discipline, short shifts and play hard -- hey, they might score this weekend, they might not. But when it finally kicks in, they've got the chemistry to be a very potent line."

VOORHEES, N.J. -- The Philadelphia Flyers are one of seven teams separated by eight points in the Metropolitan Division, but just two of them will claim the division's automatic spots in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With a home-and-home set against the New York Islanders starting Saturday at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the Flyers have a chance to do some serious damage to the competition.

The Flyers enter the game second in the division while the Islanders are eight points back in eighth.

"Playing a division rival, you want to be able to take the two points," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said after the team's morning skate at its suburban New Jersey practice site, Virtua Health Flyers Skate Zone. "We've got a back-to-back here. The more separation we can create the better."

The Flyers' next four games are against division opponents; after their game Monday at Nassau Coliseum, they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and then play at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

After sitting out the Buffalo Sabres' 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday with an injury, forward Marcus Foligno will be back in the lineup in time to play against his brother Nick as theColumbus Blue Jackets visit First Niagara Center.

Marcus Foligno and Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder returned to practice Friday and participated in Buffalo's optional skate Saturday, although Taliinder remains out with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the past six games.

Marcus Foligno would not share the nature of his injury but admitted that it is something he has been dealing with for a while.

"Just a recurring injury that got pinched in the game against Philly [Jan. 14]," Foligno said after skating Friday. "It's all better now. The trainers looked after me. Just something I needed to rest. It's never going to go away until the summertime. It's just something I've got to keep a close eye on."

TAMPA -- In preparation for an afternoon puck-drop, the San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lightningopted against morning skates Saturday.

Antti Niemi is expected to start in goal for the Sharks after backup Alex Stalock shut out the Florida PanthersThursday.

Forward Logan Couture skated with San Jose on Friday, his first time on the ice since undergoing hand surgery Wednesday. He's expected to miss at least two more weeks.

The Lightning also had a key injured player on the ice this week as Steven Stamkos participated in a full team skate on Thursday, his first since breaking his right tibia more than two months ago. Thursday also saw Tampa Bay assign defenseman Andrej Sustr to the American Hockey League. The move was necessitated by the return of injured veteran defenseman Sami Salo, who played Thursday in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders.

Here are the projected lineups for the Sharks and Lightning:

CHICAGO -- Brent Seabrook and Marian Hossa will each play for the Chicago Blackhawks when they face the red-hot Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at United Center (8 p.m. ET, NHLN).

After both missed Chicago's practice on Thursday, they joined teammates on the ice Friday for the Blackhawks' morning skate. Seabrook missed practice Thursday with an illness and Hossa was held out for a "maintenance day," according to Chicago coach Joel Quenneville.

The Ducks (36-8-5), who have won eight straight games and 18 of their last 19, made a couple moves Friday. They sent defenseman Luca Sbisa and goalie John Gibson to Norfolk of the American Hockey League, with Sbisa's trip a two-game conditioning assignment following a torn tendon in his right hand that's sidelined him for 24 games.

COLUMBUS -- The anticipated reunion of five members of the Russian team for the 2014 Sochi Olympics could be minus one if Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin is not sufficiently recovered from the flu Friday to play against the Washington Capitals.

"We haven't ruled him out," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "He was feeling better last night. He woke up this morning and wasn't feeling better. We'll take a look at him later. We'll make the call then. It's not looking good that he'll play."

Defenseman Dalton Prout, recalled Thursday from a conditioning reassignment to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, would replace Tyutin, who has four goals and 15 assists and is minus-1 in 43 games.

"If (Tyutin) isn't playing we're all going to be chipping in and contributing playing against their top guys," Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson said.