The Bruins are going with a young lineup and will take a long look at a number of prospects bidding for jobs with the big club.
"The best way to give those young guys a chance was an opportunity to play again and play against some pretty good competition," said Bruins coach Claude Julien after the morning skate. "[I'm] hoping to see that effort. My No. 1 criteria for making your team successful is by outworking the other team, no matter who you have in the lineup, and it's served us well in the past with our injuries. Hopefully, we send that kind of message again to some of the young guys and the players that are playing tonight, that a lot of it is going to rely on work ethic, so that's what we're hoping to see."
While veterans such as Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci will have the night off, youngsters like centers Joe Colborne and Zach Hamill and defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Steve Kampfer will all get another chance to impress Julien and Co. as they battle for the final open spots on the roster.
The Bruins also added a few more bodies to the mix, recalling forwards Wyatt Smith, Jeremy Reich and Jeff LoVecchio, who had all been assigned to Providence on Saturday, to play in Tuesday's game.
"It's needing bodies for tonight, but also [it's] guys that deserve to get another game," said Julien. "We didn't see Smith at all because he was injured at the beginning [of camp]. He's a guy that we think we could rely on like we did with [Trent] Whitfield last year, since Whit is out, [Smith]'s a guy that's got a lot of experience in the NHL. I think we need to look at him for our own sake as a coaching staff, and see what he'll bring."
Julien also expects Reich to be capable of filling in with the big club if necessary. Reich spent most of the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons in Boston, but has been in the AHL the past two years.
"Reicher is another guy that down the road we can rely on if we need to," said Julien. "He's played enough in the NHL, so that's one of the reasons [he was recalled]. I think there's merit in that. And also the fact is that with the schedule, two [games] and two [nights], we've left a lot of our older veterans behind."
Reich and Smith both cleared waivers when they were sent down and won't be subject to them again if they are returned again after Tuesday's game. That's a possibility, but in the meantime Reich will enjoy the chance to get in another game with the big club.
"It's good to get a game in, you know," said Reich. "I think they know what I bring to the table, so I'm just going to play like I always play and see what happens."
The Bruins also want to see more of LoVecchio, who had a goal in his only preseason game last week against Florida in Rochester, N.Y.
"I think LoVecchio, the way he played, deserves certainly another game and his game, obviously, in Providence had to be consistent and that's what he understands," said Julien. "[He] can skate at this level, there's no question about that, but it's a little bit more than that."
There are jobs still to be won in Boston, and while the spotlight will be on the more high-profile prospects like former first-rounders Colborne and Hamill, the Bruins want to get a look at all the options available to them in their system.
