Game Preview: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs

The Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs meet for game 8 of the Leafs' regular season. Coverage starts at 7 PM EST via NHL Network, CBC, RDS, and NESN (I'm pretty sure that coverage on the two national networks means it's blacked out for GameCenter Live). If you're in Toronto, you can still pick up Toronto Maple Leafs tickets through TiqIQ for as low as $86.

The Bruins are coming off a 7-4 loss to the Sabres, which involved a concussion to Shawn Thornton. News of Thornton's injury has had some Bruins media outlets questioning whether or not the Bruins are tough enough to overcome to the Sabres' fighters, which is hilarious in oh-so-many ways.

I doubt that Chiarelli overreacts like the Sabres did just because of one loss and one injury - regardless of what NESN thinks - but the Leafs have already continued the North East division's race to the bottom not only by recalling Orr and Fraser from the Marlies, but by claiming Frazer McLaren off the San Jose sharks. The new name, who is expected to make his Maple Leafs debut tonight in the of the injured Brown, has zero points in 17 games over the last three years, but carried 31 PIM. He's not expected to score against the Bruins unless the NHL suddenly decides to award goals for fight decisions. The best we can hope for is that he'll taunt Lucic into taking a major, but in a game where Carlyle controls the matchups, we should hope the fourth line doesn't see a minute against the Bruins' top scorers.

I haven't seen anyone tweet official lineups for the Leafs, but MacArthur is expected to miss the game tonight, and based on the Leafs' lines Thursday against the Caps, we might expect the following: