We'll start with Mark Stone, who missed yesterday's practice due to an illness. Head coach Guy Boucher shared with the media earlier today that Stone will be a game-time decision tonight against the Ducks.
"We're hoping he is," the coach said about Stone's ability to play tonight. "He's feeling much better but he hasn't been on the ice so we'll see after warm-up."
The coach also confirmed a potential change on defence as Ben Harpur is set to return to the line-up to help combat a phyiscally imposing Ducks squad. Should Stone be given the green light to play, the coach will then need to decide which defenceman will come out to accomodate.
"There's a possibility of 11 & 7 and there's a possibility of 12 & 6," said Boucher about tonight's potential deployment. "For sure Harpur's in so there is a change or we're playing with seven."
There was a little bit of shuffling at yesterday's practice, including Cody Ceci acting as the 7th defenceman but when pressed, the coach said "not to make that assumption" regarding Ceci's status for tonight.
So given what we saw on the ice yesterday, along with Stone's pending availability for tonight's game, here's a look at the projected line-up for tonight...
Ryan - Brassard - Stone*
Smith - Duchene - Dzingel
Hoffman - Pageau - Dumont
Pyatt - Thompson - Burrows
Harpur - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Chabot
Oduya - Claesson
Ceci
*Game time decision
