Today on Bruins Daily:

The Bruins return from their Christmas break as they host their Atlantic division rival, Ottawa Senators in the first of a home-and-home with the Senators. The Bruins are looking for their third straight win. The Senators come into tonight’s contest with just two wins in their last five games. As always we have you covered throughout the game. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and join in on all the fun by including #DailyLive in your tweets.

In case you missed it:

The Bruins recalled goalie Niklas Svedberg from the Providence Bruins this morning. Svedberg will serve as Tuukka Rask’s backup tonight.

The “Merlot line” has been struggling of late as they have had to adjust to life without Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille. Lucky for them, Paille returns tonight.

Know the enemy:

It’s been a roller coaster ride of the season for the Ottawa Senators. The Senators enter tonight’s contest sixth in the Atlantic division, 15 points behind the division leading Bruins. The Sens are led by former Norris-winning defenseman Eric Karlsson. The tall blueliner leads the Sens with 37 points. Bobby Ryan leads the team in goals with 17. The real struggle for the Senators this season has come from between the pipes. Craig Anderson hasn’t come close to the numbers he put up a year ago, and because of this has been sharing time in net with the Sens’ promising young goaltender Robin Lehner. Ottawa defeated the Bruins on November 15, the first of four games between the two division rivals. The Senators are looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since a season-high, three-game win streak from November 5-9.

Bruins linkage:

Claude Julien is looking for more from his players. (Joe Haggerty/CSNNE)

Already one game into the tournament, NEHJ’s Bruins’ prospect and current BU Terrier says Matt Grrzelcyk is sticking around for Team USA in the World Junior Championship.

D.J. Bean of WEEI discusses the future of Bruins forward Ryan Spooner.

League linkage:

NHL’s new Christmas break may not be that beneficial to players. (San Jose Mercury News/ David Pollak)

John Boruk of CSNPhilly ranks the 2014 NHL outdoor games.

According to reports, Sharks’ rookie Tomas Hertl won’t be joining the Czech Republic in Sochi for the Olympic Games due to an injury. (NHL.com)

Bruins projected lines:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Carl Soderberg-Ryan Spooner-Matt Fraser
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Jordan Caron

Zdeno Chara-Torey Krug
Dennies Sedienberg-Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowski- Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Senators projected lines:

Mika Zibanejad-Jason Spezza-Milan Michalek
Clarke MacArthur-Kyle Turris-Bobby Ryan
Colin Greening-Zack Smith-Chris Neil
Cory Conacher-Jean Gabriel Pageau-Erik Condra

Jared Cowen-Erik Kaarlsson
Cody Ceci-Chris Phillips
Marc Methot-Eric Gryba

Robin Lehner
Craig Anderson

Tweets of interest:

Dougie Hamilton is close to skating.

Coach said Dougie Hamilton will probably start skating with the team next week ^CS

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 27, 2013

Daniel Paille returns tonight, Loui Eriksson, well not so much.

Dan Paille is back in #Bruins lineup tonight vs #Sens. Loui is coming in and feeling better but it’s not going to be a quick turnaround.

— Jamie Erdahl (@JamieErdahl) December 27, 2013