Bruins at Hurricanes preview

BRUINS (43-16-8) at HURRICANES (30-28-11)
7 p.m. ET; NESN, FS-CR, SNO, SNE, SN1, NHL.TV

Marchand, who missed the Bruins' 3-1 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday because of an upper-body injury, said he wouldn't have been able to play if the Bruins had a game Monday but was feeling better after the morning skate.
The Bruins are second in the Atlantic Division, six-points behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning.
Goaltender Cam Ward is expected to start for the Hurricanes, who lost 6-3 against the New York Rangers on Monday. They are seven points behind the New Jersey Devils for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Marchand has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a five-game-point streak.
Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in the past 10 games.

They said it

"We know that they're going to skate. They came at us hard in our building the last time (a 4-3 Bruins overtime win Feb. 27) and we had to fight our way back. We've got to worry about ourselves. It's usually getting back on pucks and supporting the breakout early that we've got to be good at so we're not stuck in our own end early in the game." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"It is surprising. It is frustrating to a certain degree too. Obviously there's degrees of disappointment there too." - Hurricanes coach Bill Peters, on being seven points behind the second wild card

Bruins name projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Riley Nash -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Rick Nash
Danton Heinen - David Backes -- Brian Gionta
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara -- Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Kevan Miller
Matt Grzelcyk -- Nick Holden
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Adam McQuaid, Tommy Wingels
Injured:Patrice Bergeron (fractured foot), Charlie McAvoy (sprained MCL)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Elias Lindholm -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched:Haydn Fleury
Injured: None

Status report

Backes will return to the lineup after serving a three-game suspension for interference against the Detroit Red Wings on March 6. Cassidy said Bergeron will not join the Bruins during their four-game road trip. He will have a medical evaluation later this week. … The Hurricanes did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

Rask is 24-3-2 with a 2.06 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in 30 games since Dec. 2. … Aho has six points (three goals, three assists) in the past seven games.