Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins: Game Preview 11-23-13

Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins
November 23, 2013 - 1:00 pm ET
TD Garden - Boston, MA
TV - SportsSouth (channel guide), NHL Network
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder (twitter @cupofchowdah)

Hurricanes Record: 8-10-4 (20 pts.)
Bruins Record: 14-6-2 (30 pts.)

The Hurricanes and Bruins faced each other for the first of three regular season games on Monday night here in Raleigh, and it was not a pretty outcome. Cam Ward was solid with 26 saves in his return after missing 10 games with a groin injury, and Tuomo Ruutu notched his first goal of the season, but that was all the offense the Canes were able to muster and they were man-handled by the Bruins in a 4-1 defeat.

So what has changed since Monday?

For the Canes

• The Hurricanes traveled to Detroit and suffered a 4-3 loss Thursday night at the hands of the Red Wings, and they'll finish their short road trip today, returning home to face the Ottawa Senators at PNC Arena tomorrow evening.
• Jeff Skinner, who missed 11 games with an upper body injury, was activated from injured reserve on Thursday and returned to the line-up against the Red Wings.
• Alexander Semin, who left last Saturday's game against the St. Louis Blues, was diagnosed with a concussion and was placed on IR on Thursday.
• Elias Lindholm was recalled from Charlotte yesterday and joined the team in Detroit yesterday.
• Chris Terry was returned to Charlotte yesterday.
• Brett Bellemore reached a milestone Thursday, scoring his first NHL goal against the Red Wings (in front of a group of about 60 family and friends), and Andrej Sekera logged his first multi-goal game with two goals.
• The Hurricanes practiced yesterday (with focus on the 28th ranked power play) in Detroit before flying to Boston. They will not practice today before the game. Chip Alexander reported the practice and power play lines with the roster moves [Canes Now].
• There was no post-practice media and no decision on goaltending, although the likely scenario (with Justin Peters getting Thursday's start) will be Cam Ward in net today and Peters tomorrow against Ottawa.
• Lines from yesterday's practice:

• Depth Chart
• Injury Report
• For your listening pleasure, Episode #7 of the Hurricanes Report Podcast [audio]

For the Bruins

• The Bruins followed up Monday's win with a 2-1 win against the Rangers in New York Tuesday night, then lost to the Blues in a 3-2 shootout Thursday night in Boston (complete with Tuukka Raskmeltdown). Despite the loss, the Bruins remain first in the Atlantic Division.
• Dennis Seidenberg injured his leg in his first shift against the Rangers on Tuesday and is out indefinitely.
• Kevan Miller recalled from Providence Bruins on emergency basis to replace Seidenberg and played his first NHL game against Thursday night.
• Adam McQuaid may be returning to the Bruins line-up. The defenseman has missed seven games with a hip/groin injury but participated in a full practice with the team yesterday.
• Watch out for the Merlot line (Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, and Shawn Thornton) with three goals and two assists in the last two games. Carl Soderberg is hot, with three points in the last three games, including a goal and an assist against the Canes on Monday night as the game's first star.
• Bruins Beat [video] from yesterday's practice.
• Bruins projected lines:

We'll have the open game thread ready to roll at 12:30 pm. See you there.