Brad Marchand had another hit that could have been reviewed by the league, but it won’t be. Did Marchand get away with another dirty hit? Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill had a hit on Rich Peverly where their knees collided. Is the potential loss of Peverly worse than Nathan Horton?

Last night the Bruins beat the Bruins defeated the Canadiens 4-3 in a shoot-out win. Was last night’s win encouraging?

Also, what has happened to Canadiens fans? Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara took a puck off the chin and the Canadiens fans celebrated when they saw Chara bleeding. Is cheering blood a classless move by Canadiens fans?

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Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch reported that it is believed that Nash, who has a no-movement clause in his contract, would accept a trade to the Bruins, Rangers, Kings, Sharks and Maple Leafs.

Nash, 27, has a contract that runs through 2018 with a $7.8 million cap hit per year.

This season, Nash has 18 goals and 21 assists to go with a minus-22 rating for the Blue Jackets, who have by far the fewest points in the NHL. He has averaged 33 goals and 29 assists per season since the 2003-04 season.

While the Bruins may have a need at forward due to Nathan Horton’s uncertain status as he recovers from his second concussion in eight months, the expected cost of Nash is thought to be much more than Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli would be willing to spend.

He talked about the win over Montreal last night, gives us his thoughts on the Montreal fans cheering Zdeno Chara’s injury and had some news on Rich Peverly’s injury.

Read: Seguin Gives Bruins Shootout Win Over Canadiens

The Bruins have been struggling lately and almost gave up the game to Montreal Wednesday night. Fortunetly Tim Thomas was able to shut down the Canadiens in the shootout to give the B’s the win.

How did Bergeron feel about the win to start off a six game road trip?

“I think it was a good road win. Monteal played a good game, they played hard, they played physical and so did we. I thought it was a great game to be a part of. Yes we let that lead slip, but I thought we stayed put and we didn’t panic and we found a way to get that extra point.”

Zdeno Chara took a puck to the chin and blood was spilled on the ice. Montreal fans cheered at the injury not knowing if it was serious or not. Luckily for the captain it only took a few stitches to close the gash on his chin. Was Bergeron surprised by the reaction by Montreal fans?

“Yeah, obviously I was surprised especially when a guy gets a puck near the face, around that area. I think he got it in the throat, but still usually you just wait and see if he’s okay and then you do whatever.”

Bruins forward Rich Peverley was injured in the third period after a leg hit from Montreal’s Hal Gill. What does Bergeron know about the forward’s status?

“The only thing that I can say that I know is that he went back home, I think last night or this morning. He’s not going to be with us for the rest of the trip, so hopefully he gets some treatments and he get back with us as soon as possible.”

All this plus why do the New York Rangers matchup so well with the Bruins. The guys also discussed Bergeron’s great goal in Montreal. Find out what was going through his head.

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The B’s winger was penalized for clipping Alexei Emelin in Montreal on Thursday night, a hit similar to Marchand’s clip of Sami Salo in January that earned him a five-game suspension.

Marchand won’t face the same fate this time, though, as Brendan Shanahan explained on Twitter that the offense was not suspendable.

“Like all penalties on the ice, not all ‘clips’ rise to the level of supplemental discipline,” Shanahan said. “This check by Marchand was delivered to the upper thigh/hip and not the knee area. We don’t like it, but not [supplemental discipline].”

A clipping call normally wouldn’t lead to speculation regarding a disciplinary hearing, but given Marchand’s history, it became a question. Marchand’s hit came at the end of the second period.

Fans were on their feet when Chara took a puck off the chin in the first period.

“It’s very disappointing,” Chara said after the game. “You have a guy lying on the ice kind of hurt and they give a standing ovation for that. What can I say? There’s nothing much I can say about that. I can’t control that, and I moved on. I got up, I got stitched up, and I was back in the second.”

Are Montreal fans a disgrace? Zolak thinks so…

“They are scum north of the border. That’s what they are; bad people,” said Zolak. ”Any time there has been physical altercations we have all, especially me, we want to win the fights. I like seeing it, I like seeing blood on the ice. I’m not rooting when another player gets hit in the face with a puck. I’m not rooting if some guy gets his eye gouged out with a stick or his face carved up.”

“We’ve never said take out a Canadien on the ice. We’ve circled the dates, and we’ve wanted to see Shawn Thornton pound somebody, or Looch drop the gloves and finish the checks, Marchand cut anyone.”

What do you think of the Montreal fans’ reaction to Chara’s injury? Let us know in the comments…

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Winger Rich Peverley suffered an apparent knee injury early in the third period after absorbing a knee-to-knee hit from Canadiens defenseman Hal Gil. Peverley did not return after the hit, and he was sent back to Boston for examinations and will not be with Boston for the rest of the road trip, Patrice Bergeron told Gresh & Zo on Thursday.

With Nathan Horton still out of the lineup as he recovers from a concussion, the Bruins can ill afford to lose any more forwards.

“It’s adversity. It’s something we have to make sure we’re aware of and battle through,” Bergeron, who scored the Bruins’ third goal, said after the game. “No one is going to feel sorry for us. Obviously Pevs is a great player for us and hopefully he’s back. For us that are in the lineup, we have to do our jobs.”

Peverley has nine goals and 29 assists in 49 games this season.

With Peverley unable to play Friday in Winnipeg, Massachusetts native Josh Hennessy will likely get his chance to make his Bruins debut.

Cheevers was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

Cheevers will be part The Legends Lunch on Thursday, March 1st at 11:30am at Morton’s The Steakhouse at The Seaport. Click here to find out more about The Legends Lunch and for information on how to buy tickets.

As a player who got to raise the banner twice as a member of the Bruins how did he feel watching the Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup run culminating in a Game 7 triumph?

“I thought it was great, I really enjoyed it and even when they came out of Vancouver two down I kinda thought they would win it.”

Tim Thomas’ performance had a lot to do with why the Bruins won it all last season. Cheevers knows what it takes to play goal at that point in the season. What were his thoughts watching Thomas play in the Finals?

“I sort of described it as I think one of the best goaltending series I’ve ever seen.”

“I think Timmy’s performance in last year’s Stanley Cup Finals was as brilliant as I can ever remember a goaltender playing in the Finals.”

The Bruins are trying to repeat this year, but are not playing great hockey right now. What type of toll does that deep playoff run take the following year?

“It’s not easy to win the Stanley Cup it’s the most trying, demanding championship to win in all of sports as far as I’m concerned. That takes a lot out of you and when it finishes in June you go back to work in September.”

After the 1972 Cup win Cheever left the NHL for the World Hockey Association. How difficult a decisions was it at the time to make the jump?

Listen to find out the answer to that question and so much more.

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What can we expect from the Bruins team come April? How can this Rangers team be compared to last years Bruins championship team?

What’s the concern level with the Bruins? How big was last night’s loss?

What has happened to players like Tyler Seguin, David Krejci, and Bergeron? How can the Bruins reignite their offense?

What wasn’t determined by Tuesday night’s game, though, was the final word on which team is the best in the Eastern Conference. Or, at least, which team will be the best in the Eastern Conference when it’s all said and done.

Without taking anything away from the Rangers’ two wins in Boston in the past three and a half weeks, they come with the caveat that the Bruins are playing their worst hockey of the season while the Rangers are playing their best.

Kalman: No Doubt, Rangers Are Tops In East

Granted, the Rangers have been playing with that kind of consistency essentially since the beginning of November, going 34-10-2 since Halloween. The Bruins had a hot streak of their own beginning in November, going 14-0-1 from Nov. 1-Dec. 5 as part of a 21-3-1 stretch in the final two months of the 2011 calendar year.

By mid-January, the Bruins were 29-12-1 and looked unbeatable. Since, it’s been a bit touch and go.

They’re 6-7-1 in their last 14 games, unable to string together two consecutive wins in more than a month. So while the Rangers will have those two road wins in their back pocket for the rest of the year, the games will likely mean nothing should the two teams meet in the postseason.

And for the Bruins, the losses should be discouraging but far from devastating. While this season has its own unique circumstances – the ongoing Tim Thomas/Facebook discussion, the Nathan Horton injury, etc. – a mid-winter slump is nothing new for the Bruins under Claude Julien. In fact, it’s becoming an annual tradition of sorts.

2007-08

In Claude’s first season in Boston in 2007, his team went from 17-11-3 to 18-16-4 in the matter of a little more than two weeks. They also went 2-5-4 for a stretch in March of the same season, but they rebounded just enough to secure the eighth and final playoff spot.

2008-09

The team entered the 2008-09 season with expectations, and they certainly lived up to them early. They went 27-3-1 from Oct. 25-Jan. 1, sitting at 29-5-4 and looking thoroughly unbeatable. Then came February. And March. The B’s went 6-9-3 from Feb. 7-March 19, but they were able to right the ship in time to go 8-2-0 to end the season and finish with 116 points. The rough showing in the winter months didn’t stop the Bruins from claiming the top spot in the East.

2009-10

Boston didn’t exactly fly out to a hot start the following season, but they were still a respectable 22-13-7 on Jan. 5. Then things turned for the worse.

The Bruins lost three in a row. Then they beat the Sharks in a shootout. Then they lost to L.A. in a shootout. Then they lost five straight in regulation, outscored 17-6 along the way. Another shootout loss to L.A., another regulation loss then two more shootout losses.

It was a one-month stretch in which the Bruins went 1-9-4. They failed to score more than two goals in 12 of those 14 games. It was as ugly as it gets for a playoff-caliber team.

Of course, being that playoff-caliber team, they won six of their next eight to go six games over .500. They lost Marc Savard on March 7, which contributed to a .500 record for the remainder of the month, but they won four of their last six games and picked up a point in one of them to finish the season with 91 points and the sixth seed in the East.

2010-11

After making their acquisitions of Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Tomas Kaberle and going on the now-famous road trip in which the B’s won all six of their games, the Bruins won their first game upon returning to the Garden to bring their season record to 38-19-7.

Then, an OT loss to Pittsburgh, a 4-1 loss to Montreal, an overtime loss to Buffalo and a 4-2 loss to the lowly Islanders. It was a stretch in March that saw the Bruins go 1-3-3, and it came just a month after the Bruins lost three straight and four of five at this same time of year.

And you know how last season ended.

The point here is that the Bruins have no doubt gone cold. The impact of Horton’s absence reverberates through the rest of the lines, and the goaltending duo of Thomas and Tuukka Rask has dropped off just a little from the near-impossible pace they had going to start the year.

The Bruins may look bad (the fans booing from the balcony on Tuesday night at the Garden will tell you that), but they’re just going through the pains of winter that seemingly take hold every year.

“Sometimes those are things, if we had the answer, it’d be fixed by now,” Julien said Tuesday night. “But when you lose and don’t win as often as you should, it weighs on you, and somehow we’ve got to use this road trip here to turn things around. There’s no easy way out. I’ve never heard of an easy way out. Teams have had to battle their way out, so that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

It might defy explanation, and it’s certainly tough to watch. Just as assuredly, none of it will matter once winter turns to spring.

Is it time to hit the panic button or do we trust this team to come out of it? Also, how much has the loss of Nathan Horton hurt the club?

Listen up for answers to these questions and more Bruins talk!

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“He’s progressing, and I would think he’d be back. In the back of my head, it’s that he may be something that we have to replace, but I would expect him to be back,” Chiarelli said prior to the Bruins 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers. “But we look at players and say, ‘Hey, maybe this player could add to our depth, but maybe he’d have to play a certain spot, too,’ like Horton’s spot.”

Horton’s injury has not only hurt the Bruins offense, but is making it difficult for Chiarelli as the February 27 trade deadline approaches. It also does not help that not many teams feel they are out of the playoff race just yet.

“I’m fairly active, it’s just that there’s not a lot going on,” said Chiarelli. “There’s a lot of teams still in it. You’ve heard me say that every year it seems, but it seems that every year there’s more teams that are in it, it’s a closer race. There are teams that may be a ways out, but they don’t want to disappoint their fan base, –and I don’t blame them — by trading players, good players. And there’s a lot of players that are locked up. Like, I have all the names on my board of potential UFAs, and it’s not a real big list.”

Chiarelli also told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Rich recently he wanted to add without subtracting from the current roster. On Tuesday, he echoed that keeping the team’s chemistry intact is tops on his list.

“I think that’s probably my priority when I look to add something. I do want to add something, and I’d like to help the team. I’d like to add to our depth. But that’s a priority. It’s a fine balance, chemistry, and you have to be careful.”

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before every game.

“Boston as a city is probably the best place to play I think, even though I haven’t really played anywhere else,” Boychuk said after the Bruins 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers Tuesday night. “The fans are just so into it, they’re always cheering – sold out every night. Why wouldn’t you want to stay here.”

Boychuk will make $3.1, $3.4 and $3.6 million annually throughout the deal, which includes a limited no-trade clause. He was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but wanted to stay with a team that fits his style.

“They’re physical, it’s a fast paced game, you work as a team and we have a lot of chemistry here,” he said, adding he no intentions of hitting free agency and testing the market.

General Manager Peter Chiarelli, as he has done with other potential free agents, saw a player that wanted to remain in Boston and locked him up.

“Johnny really wanted to stay here. I think that’s the overriding theme,” Chiarelli prior to Tuesday night’s game. “He has obviously been a good performer for us. He’s a big, strong, physical D, and I’ve had some discussions with all our free agents, I think, over the last month or so, and this is a deal that has come out of it so far. He’s a Bruin type of player – physical, and yet he can score the shot, and he’s a punishing player. He chose not to test the market, which was nice for us, and we have him under contract for three more years.”

Kalman: No Doubt, Rangers Are Tops In East

Chiarelli said the process began roughly a month ago. The Bruins did not want Boychuk to hit free agency on July 1, because the price likely would have gone up.

“That usually happens. I would think that Johnny, if he had gone to the market, he could have gotten more. The grass is not always greener, and he probably would have gotten more, and maybe some more terms,” said Chiarelli.

Boychuk’s salary cap hit will be the second highest among Bruins defensemen behind captain Zdeno Chara. The only defenseman not currently signed past this season is Joe Corvo.

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before every game.

While the Bruins’ first loss to the New York Rangers last month easily could’ve gone their way had it not been for a major penalty against Andrew Ference and a last-second overtime goal by Marian Gaborik, there was no doubt about which team was better when the two teams met in the rematch.

The first-place Rangers played their game perfectly, while the Bruins floundered and flailed in an attempt to match the Blueshirts. After all, both teams pride themselves on checking, physicality and all-out determination. The mirror image scenario, however, only plays out when both squads play their best.

So through two head-to-head match-ups between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Rangers have set a precedent that could carry over into the squads’ next two regular-season meetings in the Big Apple, and maybe even into the postseason.

“We know what to do to beat them, but we don’t do it on a consistent basis,” said Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg after his team’s most recent 3-0 loss to the Rangers. “We saw we had enough offensive zone time. We had good chances, good looks. But we just didn’t have that bite to get those rebounds and to put them in the back of the net. And on the other hand, they used their opportunities and we didn’t play consistent enough tonight.”

The Bruins might have officially out shot the Rangers, 79-31 (with 22 shots blocked by New York and 15 shots wide of zoned-in Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist), but when most of those shots are arriving from area codes outside the slot, or even the circles, even a goaltender who isn’t a gold-medal winner nor has a royal nickname can make the stops.

It’s odd that the Bruins would have such a tough time solving the Rangers. The game plan for defeating New York is the same one other teams, including the Rangers, use to beat Boston. You have to take care of the puck, sacrifice your body and, most of all, work your rear ends off. Maybe it’s the “dog days” of the season or just the notion that Boston is almost locked into the No. 2 seed already based on the standings and the games in hand the Bruins have on their closest competition.

Regardless, the Bruins are going to need better efforts on their upcoming six-game road trip, and are going to have to figure out a way to beat the Rangers sooner rather than later. Or things could start to get a little dicey in the standings. At the very least, the playoffs could suddenly became even a higher mountain to climb without the Bruins returning to what’s made them an elite team over the last year-plus.

The Bruins would be wise to heed their coach’s advice about turning things around.

“We’re a checking team that scores. That’s our identity,” said head coach Claude Julien, whose team is just 5-5-1 over its last 11 games. “We’re a checking team that scores, but right now, we’re not checking, and we’re not scoring. We’ve got to get back to get back to checking, and checking is playing a lot harder, winning battles, and being really hard to score against, and when you do that, then teams get frustrated like we did tonight, make a few mistakes, and it ends up in the net. So they beat us at our own game.”

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com. He operatesTheBruinsBlog.net and also contributes coverage to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on twitter@TheBruinsBlog.

“I’d like to see it calm down. I think that’ll happen, eventually,” Neely said on Felger and Mazz on Tuesday. “Even though the reporters want to hear from him and he says no comment and they know he’s going to say no comment, they’ll eventually stop asking about it.”

When it comes to how the team would like Thomas to handle his Facebook page going forward, Neely wouldn’t offer much detail.

“Yeah, I don’t want to get into too much of what goes on internally here,” Neely said, “but I think everybody knows at least inside the organization that we have an understanding of what we’d like to see happen.”

Neely was also asked about the trade deadline of Feb. 27 and whether his team is proceeding as if injured forward Nathan Horton will return from his concussion.

“I personally think that we’ll see him again. I’m kind of a glass half full type of guy anyways,” Neely said. “I think we’d see him back in the lineup but that’s a guess more than anything else. … We certainly might look at things differently if we get definitive word, which we haven’t. He’s gotten better, we’re expecting him to continue to progress to the point where he’ll get back in the lineup.”

Regarding the trade market in general, Neely said the Bruins are in the same position as many other teams in that they want to improve but aren’t necessarily eager to move players.

“There’s been a lot of seeds planted over the past month or two, and it’s still pretty quiet. It’s a slow growing season,” he said.

Neely also discussed the slump of David Krejci, the significance of Tuesday night’s game against the Rangers and what the Bruins need to do to build consistency.

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before the puck drops, with Postgame coverage following each game.

Bob McKenzie of TSN in Canada is reporting Boychuk and the B’s have agreed to a three-year extension worth approximately $3.36 million per year.

The 28-year-old defenseman was set to become an unrestricted free-agent after the season.

Known for his physical play and rocket slap shots, Boychuk has tallied three goals and seven assists this season.

In his 177 career games, only four not with Boston, Boychuk has 11 goals and 30 assists.

While the game is against the only team ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings, the Bruins are viewing it as just another game and just another test.

“It’s another game for us. They’re ahead of us in the standings, so it’ll be a good test for us. It’s a clique but it’s true,” said forward Shawn Thornton. “They’ve been playing really well all year.  They’re a team that we had a good game against last time. We’re kind of built the same way, so I’m excited for it.”

Shawn Thornton Pre Rangers 

The Rangers currently hold a seven point lead over the Bruins for the top spot in the East. The two last met January 21, a 3-2 overtime loss by the B’s in Boston. The Bruins have gone 4-4 since then, while the Rangers added to their conference lead going 6-2.

Read: Bruins-Rangers Preview

They would love to cut into the Rangers’ lead, but the Bruins are focusing more on staying consistent and building off Saturday’s victory over the Nashville Predators.

“There’s a lot to feel good about after Saturday afternoon’s game. The main thing right now is we want to sustain what we built,” said forward Milan Lucic. “A lot of it had to do with we were moving our feet, hard on the puck and spent a lot of time in the offense zone. That was us being on top of our game and making good strong plays.”

“You can’t do it for one game and not do it for the next, especially against a team like this,” said Lucic. “You have to bring your best in order to beat the best, as they are in the Eastern Conference.”

Chris Kelly Pre Rangers 

“You play for the standings. They’ll always be important. They’re playing well and we want to come out and have a great effort; try to move closer to them,” said center Chris Kelly. “That’s our main focus; coming out and having that consistent effort. I thought we played extremely well against Nashville. Their goalie played well and they scored goals at big times but for us to battle back and find a way, that was something to build on. Hopefully we continue that.”

Goucher On T&R: Time To Build Momentum

Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice, likely meaning he will be between the pipes Tuesday night.

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before every game.

That’s what Marchand experienced in January at the White House, with Barack Obama referring to the scrappy winger as “the little ball of hate.”

Marchand told Sports Illustrated afterward that the unexpected mention from the leader of the free world nearly caused him to faint.

“It really caught me off guard,” he told SI’s Michael Farber. “I almost blacked out there, [but] it was all in good fun.”

The quote is part of an extensive feature on Marchand that details his journey Nova Scotia to the Bruins’ top line. While Marchand didn’t seem too enthralled with being the reincarnation of Pat Verbeek, he seemed willing to accept any name the president bestows upon him.

“I guess if the President of the United States gives you a nickname, you have to stick with it,” Marchand told the magazine.

The 27-year-old forward has 20 NHL games under his belt, all with the Ottawa Senators from 2006-10. After spending last season playing in Switzerland, Hennessy signed a one-year deal with the Bruins. The former Milton Academy star spent the past few months in Providence, but now he could get his chance to make his debut as a Boston Bruin.

Hennessy’s role is expected to be a healthy scratch, but should any forward suffer an injury on the upcoming six-game road trip, he’ll be the first player to get the call.

Just the opportunity, though, is what Hennessy’s always wanted.

“Since I was about two and a half, I’ve been looking forward to this, since I can remember,” he told WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche at the morning skate. “I try not to use every cliche in the book, but this really is a lifelong dream of mine. That’s really how I feel.”

Hennessy said getting the phone call from the Bruins had him reverting back to a child.

“It was awesome. I was  home alone with my kids. It made me feel like a kid,” he told Roche. “It was one of those things, it seemed like it would be so awesome I didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it. I didn’t want to get hung up in a dream that who knows how realistic it was.

“I had it back in my mind, a little bit of hope, but I kept it to myself.”

In those 20 NHL games, Hennessy has one goal and no assists. He scored that goal on Jan. 7, 2007, as part of a 6-1 Senators win over the Flyers. In 49 games with Providence this season, he has 15 goals and 15 assists, ranking second on the team in points.

But is it a must win game for the B’s?

“I think it’s important that they play well. I don’t know if it’s a game they have to win. The Rangers are on a good run, and they’ve created a little separation,” 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Bruins play-by-play man Dave Goucher told Toucher & Rich Tuesday morning. “They have to continue to try to play well, like they did against Nashville… They have to try to build some momentum here. It’s been too much of ‘one good game, two bad games’ over the last month or so. They have to play better, and play like they did Saturday.”

The Rangers currently own a seven point lead over the Bruins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, a lead that was just one point when the two teams met back in January. But the Bruins are just 4-4 since their OT loss to New York, with the Rangers going 6-2.

Read: Bruins-Rangers Preview

Goucher thinks it’s just a little mid-season slump, and the B’s could turn the corner at any point.

“I’d like to believe it’s a little more of the dog days of the season. If you look last year right around this time, they went into a little bit of a lull,” he said. “Then it was the six-game road trip –which they’re going to start tomorrow (in Montreal) — they swept all six games on it. That seemed to give them the jolt they needed for the rest of the season and the rest into June.”

“They’re a better team than what they’ve shown the last month. The concerning thing for me is you look at their losses this year. They’ve lost 17 games in regulation, and 12 have come against non-playoff teams,” said Goucher. “The better the teams they’ve played, the better they play. I guess that’s a good thing, and it’s a good challenge for them tonight against the Rangers and the road trip coming up.”

Stats: Bruins-Rangers Head to Head

As the February 27 trade deadline approaches, Goucher would like to see Peter Chiarelli add a few more pieces like he did last season, but that might be a lot tougher this year.

“I do think they’ll be active. I would like to see them add a forward or maybe two. What throws a wrench into some of this is the Nathan Horton situation. It was frustrating and disappointing to hear he suffered a setback the other day. You look at how valuable he was for the Bruins last year in the playoffs and all the huge goals he scored. Hopefully he is able to come back and contribute, but I’d like to see them add maybe a forward or two, and a defenseman as well.”

There are names like Travis Moen and Hall Gill out there, but with more teams in the playoff hunt, there will not be as many sellers this time around.

“It will take a little creative maneuvering on Peter Chiarelli’s part, and I think that is something he is more than capable of doing. But right now there are more teams in the race that it makes it more difficult.”

“However they’re able to do it, [they need to do something],” said Goucher. “They talk a lot about their depth; I’d like to see them add to that depth.”

Hear more from Dave Goucher, including when Tuukka Rask should take over in net…

98.5 The Sports Hub is the only place to hear every game of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 2011-12 NHL season with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers.

Andrew Bodnarchuk found that out over the weekend, as he was informed by Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney Sunday morning that he was getting recalled to Boston. So Bodnarchuk didn’t play for the Providence (AHL) farm club Sunday afternoon and instead joined the parent club Monday morning for practice.

Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien confirmed that Bodnarchuk will be available for Tuesday night’s home game with the New York Rangers and then will join the team on its six-game road trip that starts Wednesday night in Montreal.

“It’s very exciting,” said the 23-year-old defenseman. “It’s been a long time since the last time I got up here. It wasn’t the greatest year for me last year and I put in a lot of hard work and I’m glad to be back here. But I’ve still got a long ways to go.”

Hear what Bodnarchuk said at practice: 

Bodnarchuk, a fifth-round pick in 2006, joined the Bruins twice during the 2009-10 season. He finished a minus-2 with no points in a little more than seven minutes of ice time per outing over four contests. Last season with Providence, he skated in 75 games and posted 1-15-16 totals with a minus-8 rating on a poor team. He never got called up to Boston.

While the Bruins were building up toward their Stanley Cup championship, first-year pros Steven Kampfer and Matt Bartkowski jumped over Bodnarchuk in the pecking order. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Bodnarchuk had to adjust his mind-set in order to make sure his career didn’t permanently stall.

“It was frustrating. Boston’s got a lot of really good D prospects, and some guys were playing really well last year,” said Bodnarchuk. “Steven Kampfer was playing great and Bartkowski was playing great. I consider them friends, so I was happy for them. But at the same time, you know where you want to be and it was something where instead of getting frustrated you just sort of put the [nose] to the grindstone and know what your immediate goal is. I’m happy to be back here, but I’ve still got a long way to go to be where I want to be.”

Bodnarchuk’s fourth pro season has provided evidence of both his altered outlook and his longtime dedicated work ethic. In 47 games this season with the P-Bruins, he’s posted 4-7-11 totals and an even plus/minus while working on a shutdown defensive pair and serving as an important penalty killer.

“He’s been a pretty stable, safe, mobile defenseman, moving the puck,” said Julien. “His mobility is very good. So he was a guy that our group thought should come to us and make that road trip with us.”

There’s no telling if Bodnarchuk will get into a game for Boston. In fact, no one wants to see him play for the Bruins because if he does, that means someone got hurt.

Nonetheless, while Kampfer is finally getting a chance to play a consistent amount of games down on the farm, Bodnarchuk will get a chance in practices (at the least) to turn some NHL heads and maybe earn a job for the future.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com. He operatesTheBruinsBlog.net and also contributes coverage to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on twitter@TheBruinsBlog.

With the February 27 deadline closing in, the Bruins find themselves in a position where they can either stand pat with the current roster, make a small move, or perhaps deal either Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask in an effort to re-shape the line-up.

“The problem is you give up someone to get something. Who the hell do you give up to besides one of your goalies, and there’s no way in hell you do that?” asked Zolak.

What should they do? Is it unrealistic to hear David Krejci’s name in rumors?

“You would be trading an existing piece on your roster,” said Gresh. “David Krejci is a moveable piece. He might be a guy that someone looks at and says ‘that’s a high-end number one; I want to build around that guy.’”

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous to mention him in trade talks.”

How much will Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers play into any trade talks?

Listen: