The Bruins expect to have forward Ryan Spooner and defenseman Torey Krug in the lineup. Spooner sat out the Bruins' 7-3 win at the Dallas Stars on Saturday because of an illness. Krug was injured late in the game Saturday. Both were full participants in the morning skate and are expected to be in the lineup against the Blue Jackets, coach Claude Julien said.
Heading into their game Saturday the Bruins were 0-for-19 on the power play through the first five games of their road trip. They failed to score on their first two man-advantage opportunities against the Stars, but then Brad Marchand scored on the power play at 13:24 of the second period.
The Bruins finished 3-for-6 with the man-advantage. The offense helped them beat the Stars and finish the road trip with a 4-2-0 record.
The Bruins' power play is third in the NHL at 22.5 percent.
"I think [Marchand's] power-play goal was scored with a couple seconds left on the power play," Krug said. "I just kept asking guys to make sure it was a power-play goal. It was huge for us. I think we gained some confidence back. A big night for sure. But you can't just be content. We'll move on to this game and hopefully it starts clicking again like it was."
Despite a 17-point difference in the standings, the Bruins and Blue Jackets have gone past regulation in their two previous games this season. The Bruins won 3-2 in a shootout Jan. 23 at TD Garden, and Bruins forward Loui Eriksson scored 33 seconds into overtime Feb. 16 for a 2-1 at Nationwide Arena.
"We've just got to stay within our team concept," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "The thing that bothered me about the game against them in our building, I thought we were the better team in the second half of the game but we gave them a free one in OT. I don't know if this game gets there. We just need to be a stiff hockey club against this team. A team coming off a big win, scored a ton of goals, they'll be ready to play so we need to be at our best tonight."
Here are the projected lineups:
BLUE JACKETS
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Cam Atkinson
Scott Hartnell - Alex Wennberg - Brandon Saad
Matt Calvert - William Karlsson - Nick Foligno
Rene Bourque - Gregory Campbell - Kerby Rychel
Ryan Murray - Seth Jones
Jack Johnson - David Savard
Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout
Joonas Korpisalo
Curtis McElhinney
Injured: David Clarkson (upper body), Sergei Bobrovsky (groin)
Scratched: Cody Goloubef, Jared Boll, Justin Falk
BRUINS
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Brett Connolly
Loui Eriksson - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey - Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo - Joonas Kemppainen - Landon Ferraro
Zdeno Chara - Kevan Miller
Joe Morrow - Dennis Seidenberg
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Jonas Gustavsson
Tuukka Rask
Injured: Chris Kelly (broken femur)
Scratched: Max Talbot, Tyler Randell, Zach Trotman
Status report:Despite being pulled in a 4-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, Korpisalo will make his 12th straight start for the Blue Jackets. … Gustavsson was first off the ice and will start for Boston.
Who's hot:Atkinson has six goals and 11 points in his past 12 games. ... Marchand has 15 goals and 20 points in his past 17 games.
