BOSTON — The Bruins will be without Milan Lucic once again when they take on Philadelphia at the Garden on Thursday.
Boston's leading goal-scorer did not take part in the morning skate and coach Claude Julien ruled him out for Thursday, though he noted that Lucic is improving from the undisclosed injury he suffered in the third period in Pittsburgh on Monday.
"He's better. [He] obviously won't be in tonight, but he's getting better," Julien said Thursday. "It's a lot like [Nathan] Horton. He's day-to-day and all of a sudden, boom, he's back in the lineup. So [Lucic] is dealing with the same kind of situation as far as day-to-day is concerned."
Horton missed two games with an undisclosed injury of his own before retuning Tuesday against Ottawa, which coincided with Lucic's first game out of the lineup.
With Lucic remaining out, Daniel Paille will stay in the lineup and the lines should remain unchanged from Tuesday's 6-0 win over Ottawa. Mark Stuart (broken hand) also skated with the club for the first time but remains at least a week away from playing.
Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice at the skate, typically the sign that he will start that evening's game. Thomas is coming off his league-leading sixth shutout of the season on Tuesday and is 19-4-6 with a 1.77 GAA and .946 save percentage overall this year.
Brian Boucher was the first goalie off at Philadelphia's skate, indicating he will likely get the start for the Flyers. The Woonsocket, R.I., native is 10-4-2 with a 2.23 GAA and a .921 save percentage this year and 7-4-1 with a 2.17 GAA and a .923 save percentage in 13 career games against the Bruins.
Philadelphia defenseman Matt Walker, who has yet to play this season after undergoing hip surgery, skated with the club in the morning. He was wearing a normal black jersey, rather than a different color to signify no contact, and is available to play in this one, though Flyers coach Peter Laviolette wouldn't tip his hand on any lineup changes.
"Matt has changed his color jersey and he's available to us," Laviolette said before adding, "I haven't announced any lineup decisions yet."
The Flyers remain without standout defenseman Chris Pronger, who has been sidelined since mid-December after undergoing surgery for a broken foot, but Philadelphia's depth on defense has prevented much of a drop-off without Pronger.
"That was something that was addressed this summer that [general manager] Paul Holmgren deserves some credit for," Laviolette said. "He went out and he picked up Andrej Meszaros, Sean O'Donnell and we kept Bart [Oskars Bartulis] in the mix and picked up Matt Walker, so we really added some depth to our back end in case something like this happened. Certainly we'd like to get Chris back in there because he's an elite player and I think one of the premier defensemen in the league. So to take him out, you don't want to do that. We'd like him back in there, but it's nice to know we can cover it as well."
Projected Bruins lines
Forwards
Michael Ryder-Marc Savard-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Greg Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense
Zdeno Chara-Steven Kampfer
Dennis Seidenberg-Johnny Boychuk
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Scratches: Milan Lucic (undisclosed), Mark Stuart (broken hand)
Projected Flyers lines
Forwards
Ville Leino-Danny Briere-Scott Hartnell
James van Riemsdyk-Mike Richards-Andreas Nodl
Claude Giroux-Jeff Carter-Darroll Powe
Jody Shelley-Blair Betts-Daniel Carcillo
Defense
Braydon Coburn-Kimmo Timmonen
Matt Carle-Andrej Meszaros
Oskars Bartulis-Sean O'Donnell
Goalies
Brian Boucher
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratches: Matt Walker, Nikolai Zherdev
