New-Look Bruins Set to Battle Flames

For the first time since the flurry of transactions that took place last week, the Boston Bruins will hit the ice with their entire new-look roster intact. The missing piece from Friday night's victory in Ottawa, Rich Peverley is set to make his Bruins debut tonight against the red-hot Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Peverley will don the number 49 on his sweater, and he is expected to play alongside fellow newcomer Chris Kelly as well as Michael Ryder on Boston's third line.

The additions of Peverley and Kelly, combined with the departure of only Blake Wheeler, gave Claude Julien 13 forwards for only 12 spots. Reports this morning indicated that Daniel Paille will likely be the healthy scratch tonight for Boston, and rookie Tyler Seguin will be bumped down to the fourth line. Rumors were circulating that the Bruins were giving some consideration to sending Seguin back to juniors for the rest of the season, but it seems that they will avoid that course of action -- rightfully so.

Claude Julien already expressed his feelings regarding Seguin's recently improved play. You have to believe that if anyone on that third unit consistently fails to pull their own weight, Julien would have no problem sliding Seguin back into that spot. Currently, according to Naoko Funayama, Seguin is slated to remain at center on the fourth unit, sliding Gregory Campbell to the wing opposite Shawn Thornton. While some might object to Seguin playing on that unit, one must realize that Boston's fourth line isn't the stereotypical trio of meat heads that some teams feature; Campbell and Thornton have combined for 17 goals and 36 points this season, and each of them have a rating of +6. Ice time is ice time, and Seguin will still be able to learn and develop each time he gets on the ice. Additionally, Julien explained that he plans to use Seguin in various situations on various different lines, especially coming off of power plays and penalty kills when the line combinations may be slightly dismantled. Hopefully the B's will continue to see improvement out of their prized youngster.

Speaking of power play situations, the third Boston newcomer -- defenseman Tomas Kaberle -- seems to be fitting in perfectly, and he is garnering praise from his teammates. His impact on the club has been evident from the start, and Bruins fans will hope to see more of what we got a sneak peek of Friday night. Kaberle's tremendous vision and ability to see the ice will help the offense and, in turn, prevent some of the turnovers the Bruins have been haunted by while breaking out of their own zone. Everyone is saying that these acquisitions have made the Bruins a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. I can only hope they are correct.

As for tonight's game, Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate and is expected to be back between the pipes. By all indications, the healthy scratches will be the aforementioned Daniel Paille and defenseman Steven Kampfer. Here are the projected line combinations for the B's.

Lucic-Krejci-Horton

Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi

Peverley-Kelly-Ryder

Campbell-Seguin-Thornton

Chara-Boychuk

Kaberle-Seidenberg

Ference-McQuaid

Tim Thomas

Catch all the action starting at 9 PM ET as the Bruins try to knock off the Flames, who are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games.