Pregame in Toronto: Boychuk Day-to-Day

TORONTO, ON - The Bruins held an optional pregame skate in Toronto at Air Canada Centre Saturday morning prior to facing the Leafs in their third meeting of the season.

Johnny Boychuk was the lone defenseman not on the ice this morning, and following the skate, Coach Julien told media that he’s “doing fine,” but that his status is “day-to-day” and he would not be playing tonight. Boychuk left practice early in Ottawa after taking a puck off the skate.

In his place, the recently recalled defenseman Matt Bartkowski will see his first NHL action of 2013.

“He’s playing well, he’s been solid for them. He’s a big body that skates well, that can move the puck well,” said Coach, when asked for a brief scouting report on the Providence D-man.

“From, probably after the first month until now, he’s been pretty steady back there, been one of their good defenseman. He’s going to have a good opportunity here to show what he’s capable of doing at this level, we’ve seen him already a few times, so we’re confident he’s going to be fine back there.”

While No. 55 was the only defenseman not on the ice, forwards David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton stayed off the ice to rest. Due to the optional, the B’s did not run through normal line rushes, so tonight’s warm ups will give the best indication of the lineup, though Coach did say that Rich Peverley would play tonight.

In between the pipes, Coach Julien talked postskate about the confidence he has in both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin.

“Well, I think, certainly, approach it in a happy way because that’s what you want with a game every second night and the amount of games we have left in a little bit of time; you need both goaltenders to be good, and both of them have been. It’s not a problem, it’s a great situation for us and I’m going to continue to take advantage of it.”

-Caryn Switaj ^CS