Bruins Notebook: Backes named NHL's third star; Leach to coach AHL All-Star game

After a day off on Sunday, the Bruins practiced today at Warrior Ice Arena in preparation for their game against the New York Islanders on Tuesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

All Bruins players were accounted for and coach Bruce Cassidy said the lineup will remain the same from Saturday's 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Accolades: The NHL announced today the Three Stars for the week ending Dec. 31. Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck finished first, while Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson is second and Bruins' David Backes is third. He had three goals and three assists for six points in three games as the Bruins went 2-0-1. Backes posted multiple points in all three games. Overall, he has seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in 20 games this season.

"I concentrate on the process and the results will end up being there," Backes said of his recent point production. "That's been the M.O. for the line that I play on (with Riley Nash and Danton Heinen) and the power play is doing the right things. . . While it's my name on the third star, there's a lot of credit to spread around for teammates and guys I'm on the ice with."



Net presence: With four games remaining before the Bruins' bye week, Cassidy has a plan in place for his goaltenders. Tuukka Rask will start against Islanders. Boston plays a set of back-to-back games this weekend, so Anton Khudobin will play against either the Hurricanes on Saturday or Penguins on Sunday. Cassidy admitted the goalies could spilt the four games, but he hasn't made a final decision. After the break, the Bruins will have five games in eight days, so it's likely Khudobin will start two of those games.

Taxi squad: With the Bruins enjoying a healthy lineup and success, rookie forward Anders Bjork is the odd-man out at the moment as a healthy scratch. It could be a perfect opportunity to send him to Providence so he can play rather than watch from press level.

"We've always said, and we're not saying what we're going to do with him, but if a young kid is not playing on a consistent basis, then yes -- absolutely," Cassidy said. "We look at the growth of our players here and it speaks for itself. The growth of Danton and Jake (DeBrusk) down there last year, and I understand (Jakob) Forsbacka Karlsson and Zach Senyshyn are playing really well down there too. If that's what it takes for Anders, we'll look at that. (Against the Islanders) we'll go with the same 12 (forwards), so we'll have to have a conversation, whether it's right now or down the road, we'll have to asses what's best for him and what's best for our team.

"It's tough competition right now. The team's playing well and it's hard to mess with the way the lines have fallen into place."

Well-deserved: P-Bruins coach Jay Leach will coach the Atlantic Division All-Star team at the upcoming AHL All-Star Classic to be held Jan. 28-29 in Utica, N.Y. Leach, a first-year head coach, has helped guide Providence to the best record in the Eastern Conference with a 21-8-3-0 record.

Here are the line combinations and defensive pairings vs. Islanders 

Forwards

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Krejci-Spooner
Heinen-Nash-Backes
Schaller-Kuraly-Acciari

Vatrano-Bjork-Cehlarik

Defense

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Miller

Postma McQuaid

Goalies

Rask

Khudobin