Coming off of one of their most frustrating losses of the season Tuesday against the Sharks, the Bruins will look to bounce back Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. Visibly frustrated after the loss, Julien promised things would be handled internally as Julien commented on lack of “focus” and “commitment.” The Bruins did not skate this morning, but yesterday at practice the lines did look a bit different.

Kevan Miller who did not play in the final 10 minutes of Tuesday’s loss is out with an upper body injury. Miller is out for at least the next four games.

The Wild enter Boston with losses in their last two after wins in three straight. On Tuesday, the Wild dropped a contest in Pittsburgh against the Penguins 4-3. Boston marks the last stop on the Wild’s four-game road trip.

Gametime: 7:00PM
TV/Radio: NESN/ 98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Boston 8-8-1 (17 points) Minnesota 10-4-3 (23 points)
Location: TD Garden

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jimmy Hayes
Frank Vitrano-David Krejci-Loui Eriksson
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-Brett Connolly
Zac Rinaldo-Joonas Kemppainen-Tyler Randell

Zdeno Chara-Zach Trotman
Dennis Seidenberg-Torey Krug
Adam McQuaid-Colin Miller

Jonas Gustavsson

Wild projected lines:

Thomas Vanek-Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker-Mikko Koivu-Nino Niederreiter
Michael Keranen-Charlie Coyle-Jordan Schroeder
Chris Porter-Ryan Carter-Brett Bulmer

Ryan Sutter-Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin-Matthew Dumba
Marco Scandella-Nate Prosser

Devan Dubnyk

Matchup to watch: Vanek, the Bruins killer

Dating back to his days in Buffalo and Montreal, Thomas Vanek has found much success against the Boston Bruins. (Photo credit: Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

In 57 career games against the Bruins throughout his time with the Sabres, Islanders, Canadiens and Wild, Vanek has enjoyed playing against the Bruins. Scoring 30 times and adding 33 assists in those 57 games, it’s safe to say Vanek is a “Bruins killer.” Through 17 games this season, Vanek is off to another good start with seven goals and seven assists. The Austria native has three goals and one assist in his last four games. Vanek should expect to see a lot of Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron, but that didn’t seem to slow down Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski Tuesday night as Chara and Bergeron were both on the ice for four of the Sharks’ five goals.

Storyline to watch: How do the Bruins respond?

Adam McQuaid and the Bruins were called out by head coach Claude Julien after Tuesday’s loss to the Sharks. (Photo Credit: Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

Ugly. One of many words to describe the way the Bruins played Tuesday night. Sloppy, was one of head coach Claude Julien’s choices when describing his team. After the loss, Julien sat with the media and was very hard on his club. Questioning the team’s focus and commitment, Julien called for more from his team. How they respond and how they give Julien more of what he is looking for remains to be seen, but at the end of the day the Bruins need to be a better team. They have a chance Thursday night to begin to turn things around. How they respond tonight after being called out by their coach could tell a lot in regards to where this team will end up in April.