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Saturday, 05 March 2011 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Bruins.

When and where: 7 p.m. T.D. Garden.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, NESN, NHL Network (United States).

Record: 38-19-7, 83 points. The Bruins are in second place in the Eastern Conference and first place in the Northeast Division

Leading Scorer: Patrice Bergeron, 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists).

Last Game: 2-1 home win against the Lightning, Thursday. Tim Thomas (right) made 27 saves for the Bruins.

Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 home loss, Jan. 15. Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist for the Penguins.

Bruins Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Gregory Campbell. The son of former Penguins defenseman Colin Campbell has points in four consecutive games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins on the Bruins: Andrew Ference, D; Mark Recchi, RW.

Ex-Bruins on the Penguins: Tom Fitzgerald, assistant to the general manager; Andre Savard, professional scout; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.

Useless Bruins Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Hockey Hall of Famer Leo Boivin is one of four former Penguins who have worn No. 20 for the Bruins. The others are Jim Morrison, Bryan Smolinski and Wayne Primeau.

Best Bruins Video We Could Find: Former Bruins defenseman Raymond Bourque giving up his No. 7 jersey during the retirement ceremony for Bruins great Phil Esposito:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (28-16-5, 2.37 GAA .917 SV%) for the Penguins and Tim Thomas (29-8-6, 1.95 GAA, .940 SV%) for the Bruins.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Chris Kunitz (undisclosed) is questionable. Forwards Arron Asham (concussion), Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Nick Johnson (concussion), Evgeni Malkin (knee), Eric Tangradi (concussion) and defenseman Brooks Orpik (finger) are on injured reserve. For the Bruins, defensemen Andrew Ference ("lower-body") and Steven Kampfer (concussion) are  out. Defenseman Shane Hnidy (shoulder) and forward Marc Savard (concussion) is on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins primary lines against the Devils last night were:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Maxime Talbot - Dustin Jeffrey - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Chris Conner

Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Kris Letang
Deryk Engelland - Ben Lovejoy

The Bruins primary lines in practice yesterday were:

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Nathan Horton
Chris Kelly - Tyler Seguin - Michael Ryder
Brad Marchand - Rich Peverley - Mark Recchi
Gregory Campbell - Daniel Paille - Shawn Thornton

The Bruins did not practice with a full crew of defensemen yesterday. This is a semi-educated guess at their pairings:

Zdeno Chara - Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg - Matt Bartkowski
Tomas Kaberle - Adam McQuaid

Notes:

-Eric Godard is serving the final game of his 10-game suspension.

-Bergeron will miss the game due to personal reasons.

-Cooke has appeared in 799 career games and has 298 career points.

-Michalek has 99 career assists.

-Kovalev has 348 career points with the Penguins.

-Letang has 96 career assists.

-With Kampfer and Hnidy unavailable, the Bruins recalled defenseman Matt Bartkowski, a native of Mt. Lebanon, from Providence of the AHL. Bartkowski has played in two NHL games this season, both times against his hometown team.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 7 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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