At the Rink: Canucks at Bruins

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins activated center David Krejci from injured reserve Thursday for their game against the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; SN360, NESN).

Coach Claude Julien classified Krejci as a game-day decision while Krejci took part in an optional morning skate. Krejci has missed 10 games, during which the Bruins have gone 5-4-1. Center Ryan Spooner has two goals and nine assists in those games, and when Krejci returns the Bruins lineup will become much deeper now that Spooner has hit his stride in the NHL.

"There's no doubt I think we're stronger down the middle just with the experience that Ryan has had at center," Julien said. "Even when David comes back, he's such a good centerman; how can you not be stronger, right? Because I think Ryan has taken some huge strides here in this time where David Krejci's been out. You hope it makes our team better and that's what we talked about, taking advantage of the opportunity and make yourself a better player. And that's exactly what he's done."

Forward Frank Vatrano was assigned to Providence of the American Hockey League.

Goalie Jacob Markstrom will start for the Canucks. Ryan Miller had started the previous two games, going 1-0-1 while stopping 93 of 97 shots.

Markstrom has won his past two starts and is 7-5-4 with a 2.40 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in 18 games this season. Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said he's open to a more even split of playing time between Markstrom and Miller if both keep performing the way they have recently.

"You always have to be open," said Desjardins, whose team is 2-1-1 so far during its six-game road trip. "The game dictates who does what. You can't push somebody into a spot that they don't deserve or is not theirs. I think you always watch what happens in the games and how guys play. Right now both guys are playing well and that makes the decision easy."

Here are the projected lineups:

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin - Jared McCann - Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Radim Vrbata

Alexandre Burrows - Linden Vey - Emerson Etem

Derek Dorsett - Michael Zalewski - Jake Virtanen

Alexander Edler - Christopher Tanev

Ben Hutton - Luca Sbisa

Matt Bartkowski - Alex Biega

Jacob Markstrom

Ryan Miller

Injured: Dan Hamhuis (facial injuries), Brandon Sutter (sports hernia), Henrik Sedin (upper body)

Scratched: Yannick Weber, Brandon Prust, Adam Cracknell

BRUINS

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Brett Connolly

Matt Beleskey - David Krejci - Loui Eriksson

Joonas Kemppainen - Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Hayes

Zac Rinaldo - Max Talbot - David Pastrnak

Zdeno Chara - Zach Trotman

Joe Morrow - Dennis Seidenberg

Torey Krug - Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Jonas Gustavsson

Injured: Landon Ferraro (lower body), Adam McQuaid (upper body), Chris Kelly (broken femur)

Scratched: Colin Miller, Tyler Randell

Status report: The Canucks recalled Zalewski from Utica of the AHL on Monday. His only two NHL games came with the Canucks during the 2013-14 season. … Julien said Ferraro, who skated Thursday, will be a game-time decision.

Who's hot: Horvat has six goals and four assists in the past eight games. … Bergeron has three goals in the past two games.