Pregame Skate 3/3: MTL @ BOS

BOSTON, MA - Following Saturday night’s 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Lightning, the B’s were back at TD Garden Sunday morning to prepare for the second game of their back-to-back against Montreal.

Only 11 Bruins hit the ice, and ran through drills with assistant coaches Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis and Geoff Ward. On the ice were: Rich Peverley, Gregory Campbell, Adam McQuaid, Shawn Thornton, Chris Bourque, Aaron Johnson, Jay Pandolfo, Nathan Horton, Lane MacDermid and Tuukka Rask.

Given the way Coach Julien had managed his goalie rotation so far this season, I can expect to see Tuukka between the pipes tonight, after Anton Khudobin made Saturday night’s start.

As far as the roster goes, Coach said during his pregame press conference that he would “decide tonight who’s going to be in the lineup.” Last game saw Jay Pandolfo inserted, with Shawn Thornton a healthy scratch (Paille moved up to the third, and Pando played on the fourth line with Chris Bourque and Gregory Campbell).

“We moved guys around and we’re still, as you want to put it, team tough,” Coach told media. “There’s other guys that can step up, as you saw yesterday. Those are things, like I said, in the tight schedule, you’re probably going to see more and more as we moved forward here.”

“I think it’s important to have that kind of flexibility. Yesterday, we put Jay [Pandolfo] in there, and it was a good thing we had him in there because with all the penalties that we had, we needed some penalty killers, and Jay’s a great penalty killer. We had an extra guy there to help us out.”

MATCH-UP: Boston (14-2-2) vs Montreal (13-4-4)

Last time around, the B’s and Habs were in a battle for the top of the standings - and this time, the same proves true, as both teams have 30 points in the standings. Both are also battling back-to-backs, as Montreal’s point came in a 7-6 OT loss in Pittsburgh last night.

“I think we knew it was a big weekend for us playing some big teams, but we also know that every game is important,” Patrice Bergeron said during pregame media availability.

“Starting on the right foot yesterday was key, and now we’re looking forward to playing Montreal. You look at the standings and we’re tied, so it’s definitely going to be a big battle tonight.”

-Caryn Switaj ^CS