Need to Know: Bruins at Canadiens

MONTREAL - Kevan Miller returned to the ice for morning skate after missing the last two games with an illness, but will not play on Saturday night in Montreal. With Miller out again, Adam McQuaid will remain in the lineup on the right side of Boston's third pairing.
"It's difficult, but I talked to Kevan about it. He hasn't really had a full practice; we're going well," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I don't think it will be a long-term thing, but I make no promises what our lineup will look like Tuesday.
"He understands. Adam went through it. It's a little bit of that competition thing we wanted up and down our lineup. That's a bit of it. It's also, again, not having a full practice coming back in.
"I think it will benefit him more to have a couple more days as well."

Cassidy has been quite pleased with McQuaid in the two games he has played since returning from a broken right fibula that sidelined him for three months. The veteran blue liner has seemed to fit back in seamlessly in the B's wins over the Canadiens (15:12 TOI) and Islanders (20:07).
"It's been nice to be back out there and be in the mix with the guys," said McQuaid. "It's been a pretty simple approach. It's been great to be back a part of things, especially to get a couple wins. It's been nice to watch the guys win, but it's that much nicer to be a part of them."
In addition to his dependability in the defensive end, McQuaid has also added a bit of an offensive tilt to his game, landing a combined seven shots on goal over the two games.
"Very steady, he does what Adam McQuaid does, very good on the kill, moves the puck, simple plays, defends hard. Actually added a little offensive dimension from the O-zone blue line," said Cassidy. "With his time out, he was working on that part of his game. Good for him. I thought that would be an area of rust without a lot of pressure from practice, but he's handled it very well."

Rivalry Renewed - Again

The Bruins and Canadiens will be facing off for the third time in the last eight days, but you won't hear any complaints about another installment of the rivalry from Cassidy.
"I pretty much can recite most of the games from '70 on," said Cassidy, who grew up a diehard Bruins fan. "I obviously had my heat broken a number of times over the years, especially the Yvon Lambert goal [in 1979 in overtime of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semifinals].
"My mom let me stay up and watch the game, one of the very few times and I wish she hadn't now. But it's been a great rivalry and it's nice to see we've been on the right side of it the last few times. I'm sure it will be a great game tonight."

Saturday's Projected Lineup

Tuukka Rask is expected to make the start in goal. Kevan Miller, Frank Vatrano, and Paul Postma will be the scratches.
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Ryan Spooner
Danton Heinen - Riley Nash - David Backes
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin