Khudobin Expected in Goal Against Montreal

BOSTON - Anton Khudobin is expected to start in goal on Saturday night, when the Bruins take on the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden.
Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET (NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
Tuukka Rask did not take part in Saturday morning's pregame skate at Warrior Ice Arena, and has stayed off the ice for the past two days.

"He's doing better," said Head Coach Claude Julien. "Obviously, you didn't see him on the ice today, so we're going to shut him off for a bit and give him another day's rest at least and still continue to go day-by-day."
Julien was asked if he was at all worried about Rask's situation.
"No," he replied.
Rask is 3-0-0 to start the season with a 1.68 goals-against average and .947 save percentage. Khudobin has suited up in one game - a 4-1 loss in Toronto a week ago that he'll be looking to bounce back from. Rask missed that game due to the same soreness that will keep him out of Saturday night's action.
"We just need a strong performance from him," Julien said of Khudobin. "I think when you look at putting your goaltender in, you want him to give you a chance to win, and that's all you can ask from your goaltender."
"It's going to be a fun game, definitely," said Khudobin. "My first start at TD Garden in a long time and I'm really excited about it. I'm looking forward to it."
The last time Khudobin started a regular season game at TD Garden was on April 17, 2013, against the Buffalo Sabres.
"[The Canadiens] are really fast and move the puck really well, so it's going to be a fun game," said Khudobin. "I've been here before, so I've known this rivalry. It's always hard, it's always interesting, it's always tough games - for the fans and for us, too."
Torey Krug and the Bruins are looking to have a strong showing in front of Khudobin as well.
"He's a great goaltender," said Krug. "I think he brings certain strengths to the ice and I think he plays the puck pretty well, so we've got to make sure we're always communicating and going back on pucks fast to make sure we help him out, and he'll do the job for us."
"We kind of left him out to dry in Toronto and I know he wants to respond with a good start tonight, and the D corps wants to help him out with that."

McIntyre Gets First NHL Recall

With Rask getting the night off, Zane McIntyre will serve as the backup. He was recalled from the Providence Bruins on Saturday morning and joined the team for morning skate.
This marks his first career NHL recall. He's in his second pro season after a four-year college career at the University of North Dakota.
"Kind of early in the year, and didn't really know what to expect, just rolling with the punches," said McIntyre. "Got the news last night and just enjoying every moment of it."
"You never know really when you're going to get called upon," he said. "So it's just making sure you're prepared and doing the right things, doing the little things on a day to day basis, so when you do get called upon in any certain situation, you're ready to go out there and just play."

Spooner Slots Back In

Based on the morning line rushes, it looks like Ryan Spooner could be slotting back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Thursday night against Columbus.
"He just has to be better," said Julien. "That's why we sat him out. He just hasn't been good enough. He's capable of doing more and we expect more out of him."
"It's everything. He's a guy that can produce, he's a guy that has to play the full game, and he's shown that he can. It's something that he has to do, that he can do, so that's what we want."
Before the scratch, Spooner had been playing on David Krejci's left wing, with Danton Heinen on the right. Now that Patrice Bergeron is back and David Backes has joined Krejci's wing, Spooner could up his game with the two vets.
"I wasn't moving my feet. I think I was playing too much of a passive game," Spooner said of his start to the season. "I need to go out there, use my speed, especially if I'm on the wing there, doesn't really change - I still need to use that."
"At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who I play with. It's not really going to change the game that I play. It's on me, and I just wasn't good enough."

Power Play Looks to Break Through

The Bruins have one power-play goal on 14 opportunities through the first four games.
"Yeah, it's not moving right now and we'll just work through it," said Krug. "There were times last year it let us down and there were times last year it held us through some tough moments and right now we're able to play through it, but at some point, this team's going to need its power play to step up."
"We rely on that and the guys that are on the power play take a lot of pride in it so we'll work through it, we'll get better and hopefully we can take a step forward tonight."
Having Bergeron back boosts the first power-play unit, which features Krug and Krejci on the points, Spooner on the half wall, David Backes in the net-front spot, and Bergeron in the "bumper" position.
"Now we have him and he's winning face-offs and we're starting with the puck in the zone, so that's a big thing," said Krug. "And also, he collects pucks like no one else in the league so with him on the power play, it definitely brings another important player to the forefront. Everyone's important out there. It's a five-man unit - and when everyone's playing well, we have a good unit."

Pregame Skate Lines and Defense Pairings 10/22

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner-David Krejci-David Backes
Matt Beleskey-Riley Nash-Jimmy Hayes
Tim Schaller-Dominic Moore-Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo
Joe Morrow-Torey Krug
John-Michael Liles-Colin Miller
Starter: Anton Khudobin // Backup: Zane McIntyre
Expected Scratches: Rob O'Gara, Danton Heinen, Adam McQuaid \
\McQuaid remains on Injured Reserve (upper body)