Tonight’s Pens – Bruins Pre Game Buzz, Lineup News, Top Storylines & What to watch For

— The Boston Bruins are 7-1-1 in their last nine games, and are starting to find their game going into the playoffs. However, a potential second round or Eastern Conference Finals preview tonight will not the feature the Bruins “A” team from a personnel standpoint.

The Bruins already locking up the No. 2 seed, will not dress goaltender Tim Thomas tonight, won’t have top-6 forward Jordan Caron due to flu-like symptoms, in addition to defenseman Adam McQuaid, and the Bruins will be dressing rookie defenseman Torey Krug , making his NHL debut.

The Penguins will be dressing a full lineup tonight, except at the goaltender position where Brent Johnson (4-7-2, 3.15 GAA, .883 sv%) will make his second start in three games. The Bruins will go with Marty Turco who’s 2-1 on the season with a 3.28 goals against average and .867 save percentage.

“Brent has played only one game in a long time, ” head coach Dan Bylsma said, indicating he’s looking to get Marc Andre Fleury some rest in the final week of the season.

The Penguins who have lost four of their last six games, lead the Philadelphia Flyers by just one point for the No. 4 seed, home ice in the first round. The Flyers host the New York Rangers tonight who {Rangers} can clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a point tonight or Penguins loss in regulation.

***The Penguins played one of their most complete games in the last meeting against the Bruins, a 5-2 win on home ice (3/11). What stood out in that game was the Penguins consistently targeting Zdeno Chara on the forecheck and they will likely have the same type of game plan tonight. Pittsburgh in that game felt they wore Chara down.

***The Bruins will feature a rookie defenseman in Torey Krug on their third pairing with Greg Zanon. Despite not having the last change, Bylsma will surely look to create matchup problems and get the Crosby or Malkin unit away from Chara and against Krug/Zanon.

***Having the last change tonight, one intriguing matchup is how the Bruins decide to matchup against the Crosby and Malkin lines, in regards to how they use defenseman Zdeno Chara and center Patrice Bergeron, one of the best defensive forwards in the game.

***Dan Bylsma was a little hard headed following Sunday’s loss, when he became irritated with a question about him using five forwards on the power play. Bylsma said on Sunday to expect him to continue to use five forwards. However, today in the morning skate, Kris Letang was back at the point on the first unit with Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, James Neal and Evgeni Malkin, bumping Steve Sullivan to the No. 2 unit.

***Will we see changes from the Penguins tonight regarding their woes in the puck management game? The Penguins have given up 29 goals on the last 165 shots they have faced.

***Pascal Dupuis looks to extend his points streak to 15 games. He has the longest points streak in the NHL since Sidney Crosby’s 25 game points streak last season.

Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin – James Neal

Steve Sullivan – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis

Matt Cooke – Jordan Staal – Tyler Kennedy

Arron Asham – Joe Vitale – Craig Adams

DEFENSEMEN

Brooks Orpik – Zbynek Michalek

Paul Martin – Kris Letang

Matt Niskanen – Deryk Engelland

GOALTENDERS

Brent Johnson

Marc Andre Fleury

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Rich Peverley

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin

Benoit Pouliot – Chris Kelly – Brian Rolston

Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Shawn Thornton

DEFENSEMEN

Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg

Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk

Torey Krug-Greg Zanon

GOALTENDERS

Marty Turco

Anton Khudobin