Bruins won't watch scores, will handle own business

Tuesday, 04.23.2013 / 2:24 PM

By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor / 2012-2013 At the Rink blog

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PHILADELPHIA -- The Boston Bruins enter their game Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN) tied with the Montreal Canadiens with 59 points. The Bruins, however, hold the top spot in the Northeast Division and second in the Eastern Conference based on having played one fewer game.

But with each team playing Tuesday -- the Canadiens play at the New Jersey Devils -- the Bruins know they have to be on their game to stay ahead in the race.

"We have to play a big game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We're hoping to hang on to our top spot in our division and at the end of the night you've got to come up with the two points."

Julien certainly knows the Canadiens are playing, but said once the puck drops here, his team's game will be his sole concern.

"I don't scoreboard-watch that much," he said. "Those are things I can't control. We'll play our game. I'm not going to be worried about Montreal while we're playing. After the game you look at the scoreboard like everyone else. We can't rely on other teams to do our job. All we have to do is do ours from here on in, and if we do ours, we've got a chance to be in a top spot."

Julien said the lineup he'll use will look similar to the one he used Sunday against the Florida Panthers, but with one or two changes.

One will be the return of defenseman Adam McQuaid, who sat out Sunday with a lower-body injury.

Also, Anton Khudobin likely will start in goal. Tuukka Rask played Saturday and Sunday, and the Bruins start a stretch of four games in seven days to close the regular season.

For the Flyers, their blue line lost another player; the team announced Tuesday that Kimmo Timonen would miss the rest of the season with a compression fracture in his right foot.

The team recalled veteran Andreas Lilja from their American Hockey League team to replace Timonen on the roster. Also available is rookie Matthew Konan, who had been called up Monday.

Here is how the teams could look when they hit the ice Tuesday:

BRUINS

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Tyler Seguin

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Rich Peverley

Chris Kelly - Carl Soderberg - Jaromir Jagr

Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Johnny Boychuk

Matt Bartkowski - Dennis Seidenberg

Andrew Ference - Adam McQuaid

Anton Khudobin

Tuukka Rask

Scratched: Aaron Johnson, Wade Redden, Dougie Hamilton, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo