Brad Marchand and Noel Acciari return to the lineup for the Bruins

TORONTO – The Bruins welcome back both Brad Marchand and Noel Acciari to the lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday night at Air Canada Centre.

Marchand missed the last two games with a concussion, and Acciari’s been out since he broke his finger on opening night. Marchand will play with Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Acciari will be with Riley Nash and Tim Schaller.



“It’s just nice to be back here with the guys and looking forward to game time,” Marchand said. “I’m feeling good and it’s good to be back.”



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Acciari knew immediately that something was wrong because of the shooting pain in his hand and arm. He couldn’t grip his stick and eventually had surgery.

“Doctors did a really good job putting it back together,” Acciari said. “Right now it feels good. It might not be what it used to be right now but it’ll get there and it’ll be good to get back in the game, back in game shape and just back out there.”

Acciari won’t waste any time and plans on getting physical on his first shift.

“Going to try to get myself into the game,” he said. “I’ll just do what I do and help out the team the best I can in that aspect.”

Boston’s lineup has been depleted with injuries. David Krejci (back), Ryan Spooner (groin), David Backes (colon surgery) and Adam McQuaid (broken fibula) remain sidelined. At least having Marchand and Acciari back will help.

“Marchy’s one of our best players, one of the best players in the National Hockey League, so it’s always great to have him back,” said Bruce Cassidy. “Noel’s a little underappreciated, not from our standpoint, but maybe around the hockey world. He’s a hardnosed guy that can set the tempo for us physically and we’ve missed a bit with him out and with (David) Backes out, so (Acciari’s) presence is welcomed back in the lineup.”

Since the Bruins have back-to-back consecutive games against the Maple Leafs, Cassidy is going with Anton Khudobin Friday night. Tuukka Rask will start on Saturday at TD Garden. Entering this season, Khudobin knew he had to be a lot better than he was last season in the backup role. He’s 3-0-1 in five games, including a 2.52 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. He’s given the Bruins exactly what they’ve needed.

“Absolutely,” Cassidy said. “He comes to play every night and he’s given us a chance to win every night. The San Jose game was his best and he was the difference in the game. He’s been rock solid. We’ve scored some goals for him early on, but at the end of the day he’s always there at the end and he’s been good for us in his role.”



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Here's the projected line combinations and defensive pairings vs. the Maple Leafs:

Forwards

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

Heinen-Szwarz-Bjork

Schaller-Nash-Acciari

Beleskey-Kuraly-DeBrusk

Defense

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

Postma-Miller

Goalies 

Khudobin

Rask