Heinen and Acciari Recalled, as Bruins Host Leafs

BOSTON- The Bruins face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Saturday night in the second of four meetings on the season.
Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET (NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
The Black & Gold hit the ice for a morning skate on Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena, with forwards Noel Acciari and Danton Heinen both taking part. Both were recalled from the Providence Bruins.
Heinen recorded nearly a point per game in his Providence stint, putting up seven goals and six assists for 13 points in 13 games. The forward played seven of Boston's first nine games to start the season, after making the opening night roster.

He spent morning skate on David Krejci's left wing, with David Backes on the right side.
"I think I just got my confidence back," Heinen said of his time with Providence. "I was put in a good position down there and I played quite a bit."
When Heinen was sent to the P-Bruins, he focused on his wall work, and feels that area of his game his improved as a result.
"That's one thing they told me go down and work on," said Heinen. "So I've been trying to focus on that, and I think I've improved there, so I'm just going to try and bring that up here."
Acciari Returns to Lineup
Acciari has missed the Bruins' past 16 games in his recovery from a lower-body injury.
He was assigned to the Providence Bruins to get up to game speed before rejoining Boston's lineup. He put up an assist in Providence's 5-3 win over the Toronto Marlies on Friday night.
"Felt good," said Acciari of his first game action in more than a month. "First period, was just trying to get my legs back under me, but as the game went on, I felt a lot better. It was good, I needed that."
"I definitely needed that game, to just get back into some sort of game shape focus and just kind of game mentality, so that was good."
Acciari was reunited with Tim Schaller and Dominic Moore for Saturday's pregame skate. The trio formed one of the Bruins' most consistent lines to start the season.
"I think our line was doing well with just kind of getting pucks in and being tough to play against down low," said Acciari. "And good defensively, just being able to get the puck out as quickly as we can, and capitalize on our chances when we could."
Starting Strong vs. Leafs
For the past two games, the Bruins have found themselves in 3-0 and 2-0 holes, first in D.C. against the Capitals and the next night at TD Garden against the Avalanche. They were able to come back against the Caps and force OT to grab a point. They weren't able to do so against the Avs.
"We've dug ourselves holes in the last two games and we were able to climb out for most of the way against Washington and it cost us in overtime, but never climbed out of it against Colorado with tired legs," said David Backes.
"We've got to make sure that we're not spotting other teams pleasantries or any goals, and we need to work hard and limit the chances that are against us and that starts from the drop of the puck. That starts from our preparation before the game, so that we have our legs under us and we're hitting the ground running when the puck drops."
Ramping Up the Power Play
It's no secret for the Bruins - they know their power play hasn't been producing. After a stretch of four power play goals in five games in mid-November, the Bruins have just one goal on their last 18 power play opportunities.
"We need to take it upon us to seize this opportunity that we all have on that power play that gets a lot of looks, and make good on it, and keep that group together and have the success that we know we can have as a group, and put the work in to get the results out," said Backes, who handles the net-front duties on the first unit, along with Patrice Bergeron, Spooner, Krejci and Torey Krug.
"And if we don't do that, [the coaches] obviously have that ability to make changes and I suspect that they would if we continue down this road that we're on. We need to get better, and we can only do that starting tonight, and we need to take that opportunity."
Pregame Skate Lines and Defense Pairings 12/10
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - David Krejci - David Backes
Ryan Spooner - Riley Nash - Austin Czarnik
Tim Schaller - Dominic Moore - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow - Kevan Miller
Projected Starter: Tuukka Rask // Backup: Anton Khudobin
Projected Scratches: Colin Miller, Jimmy Hayes