Rask to Start, McIntyre to Back Up Against Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Questions surrounding the Bruins' surprise recall of Zane McIntyre were cleared up on Monday morning by head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Cassidy confirmed following the team's pregame skate that Tuukka Rask would get the start against the Columbus Blue Jackets and that McIntyre was recalled on an emergency basis to be the backup. According to Cassidy, Anton Khudobin tweaked something in his lower body during Sunday's optional practice and did not travel to Columbus.

"[Khudobin] just got off after practice yesterday and didn't feel right, wasn't feeling 100 percent, tweaked something in his lower body. So we just made a split-second decision," said Cassidy. "He wasn't gonna play, Tuukka was gonna start…so hold him off the ice today and tomorrow's a scheduled day off, allow him to heal, nothing major."

Atkinson Questionable

The Blue Jackets are coming off a disheartening 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, in which they lost last season's leading scorer Cam Atkinson to a lower-body injury. With Atkinson questionable, the Blue Jackets recalled 22-year-old forward Tyler Motte from the Cleveland Monsters (AHL).
After opening the season by winning five of their first six games, the Blue Jackets have gone 2-3-0 over their last five contests.
Nonetheless, the Bruins are still expecting a tight-checking matchup.
"They play hard, they're on the puck, they have a system where they're really aggressive and don't give you that much space," said Patrice Bergeron. "You need to work for every inch. We did that against L.A. and hopefully we can bring some of that tonight."

Heading East

In a bit of an unusual scheduling quirk, Monday's game against Columbus marks just the second against an Eastern Conference opponent for the Bruins this season. The only other matchup within the conference was against the Buffalo Sabres last week.
"It's been different that way at the start of the year," said Bergeron. "We all know that they're a good team and it's gonna be a pretty tough battle tonight."

Projected Lineup

David Krejci (upper body) was ruled out on Sunday. Here is the Bruins' projected lineup based on Monday's pregame skate:
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Anders Bjork
Jake DeBrusk - David Backes - David Pastrnak
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Danton Heinen
Kenny Agostino - Riley Nash - Frank Vatrano
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Kevan Miller - Paul Postma
Tuukka Rask