Halak, Meszaros to sit out first games with new teams

BOSTON -- Trade deadline-day acquisitions by the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals will have to wait to make their debuts with their new teams.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros, acquired by the Bruins from the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, and Capitals goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who was picked up from the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, were both confirmed out for the Bruins-Capitals game at TD Garden on Thursday by their respective coaches.

Meszaros will find himself in a similar situation with Boston that he was in with Philadelphia. The Bruins have eight healthy defensemen and there will be stiff competition to get in the lineup.

"I don't think it's going to be easy," Meszaros said after his first morning skate with the Bruins. "We have a great group over here and we had great defensemen in Philly too, so it's always tough to crack the lineup. And it's up to the coaches, and obviously up to me, how I'm going to respond if they give me a chance."

Capitals coach Adam Oates said his decision to start Braden Holtby in net instead of Halak was made mostly because Halak has been through a rigorous stretch the past several days. Halak was traded from the St. Louis Blues to Buffalo on Friday and then the Sabres dealt him to the Capitals. All this came on the heels of Halak's stint with Slovakia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Halak's travels have taken him to several different cities. He's also moved up and down in the standings and now will try to help the Capitals, who are in a dogfight for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"It's a new challenge for me personally," Halak said. "You know I'm really happy that I feel like I can help them. I'm just happy to be here and happy to be able to battle for the playoffs."

The Bruins will have Loui Eriksson back after he missed one game because of an infection in his heel.

Here is the projected lineup for each team:

CAPITALS

Dustin Penner - Nicklas Backstrom - Alex Ovechkin

Chris Brown - Marcus Johansson - Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera - Eric Fehr - Joel Ward

Ryan Stoa - Jay Beagle - Tom Wilson

Karl Alzner - John Carlson

Jack Hillen - Mike Green

Cameron Schilling - Connor Carrick

Braden Holtby

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Jaroslav Halak, John Erskine

Suspended: Dmitry Orlov

Injured: Aaron Volpatti (shoulder), Mikhail Grabovski (ankle), Brooks Laich (lower body)

BRUINS

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Chris Kelly - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Matt Bartkowski - Johnny Boychuk

Torey Krug - Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Chad Johnson

Scratched: Andrej Meszaros, Jordan Caron, Corey Potter

Injured: Adam McQuaid (quad), Dennis Seidenberg (knee)