Following their sloppy effort in Carolina two nights ago where they somehow managed to come away with a point, the Bruins enter the third game of their four-game road trip with a few adjustments to the lineup.

Two nights following the 4-3 overtime loss in Raleigh, Claude Julien is moving a few bodies around on the second, third and fourth lines for tonight’s game against the Blues in St. Louis. Frank Vatrano moves to the second line with David Krejci and David Backes, while Ryan Spooner moves back to center – again – on the third line with Tim Schaller and Riley Nash and Austin Czarnik and Anton Blidh will be centered by Dominic Moore on the fourth line.

On the back end, Colin Miller will return in place of John-Michael Liles, who committed the turnover that led to Sebastian Aho’s game-winner in his first game back from a concussion.

Like the Bruins, the Blues haven’t been able to get a consistent stretch of winning. Neither team has won more than four in a row all season long and both are 5-4-1 in their last 10. The Blues won the first meeting of the season between the two teams back on November 22, 4-2, on a night where Zdeno Chara left the game due to a lower-body injury.

Gametime: 8:00 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 21-17-5 (47 points), Blues 21-14-5 (47 points)
Location: Scottrade Center

Bruins projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano-David Krejci-David Backes
Tim Schaller-Ryan Spooner-Riley Nash
Austin Czarnik-Dominic Moore-Anton Blidh

Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller-Colin Miller

Tuukka Rask
Zane McIntyre

Blues projected lines

Alex Steen-Paul Stastny-Nail Yakupov
Robby Fabbri-Jori Lehtera-Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz-Patrik Berglund-David Perron
Scottie Upshall-Kyle Brozdiak-Ryan Reaves

Joel Edmundson-Alex Pietrangelo
Brad Hunt-Kevin Shattenkirk
Jay Bouwmeester-Colton Parayko

Jake Allen
Carter Hutton

Tonight’s storylines

Backes: “Tonight’s going to be a special night for me, coming back to a place where I spent 10 years.”

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 10, 2017

– Of course, the main storyline here is David Backes returning to his old stomping grounds. The former Blue spent 10 years in St. Louis and ranks in the top 10 in many franchise categories including hits (first), games played (fifth), penalty minutes (fifth) and goals (sixth). Backes has two goals in as many games since coming back from a concussion and hopes to tally another goal against his former team just like he did in the first meeting.

– Two of the prolific goal-scorers will faceoff in David Pastrnak and Vladimir Tarasenko, but both are trending in opposite directions. Pastrnak, who leads the Bruins in goals with 19, enters tonight’s game on a 10-game goalless skid, which is a career long. At one point, Pastrnak was second in the league in goals, just behind Sidney Crosby. Three players, including Tarasenko, who has six goals in his last 10 games and four in his last three, have surpassed the 2014 first round pick since his skid.