Bruins and Maple Leafs ready to skate in Boston

Your new look Boston Bruins are set to host the vastly improved Toronto Maple Leafs at the TD Garden tonight!.

Wait, what? The Bruins didn't make a trade for a goal scorer and the Leafs had a fire sale on deadline day?

I guess no matter who wins this game it means the Bruins are another step closer to some solid picks and Peter Chiarelli sent the message clearly on Wednesday that the Bruins aren't playing for this year. OK, my rant is over. On to the (abbreviated) preview.

The Bruins will try to put Tuesday night's ugly 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens behind them when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are coming off three straight losses and a deadline that saw them cut ties with Alexei Ponikarovsky, Lee Stempniak, Joey MacDonald, and Martin Skoula (we hardly knew ye).

All joking aside, Bruins fans have to be excited about our team's chances of landing one of the top picks in this year's draft after the Leafs Liquidation Sale.

I'm guessing that newly acquired defenseman Dennis Seidenberg should be in town for tonight's game. Fluto Shinzawa is reporting that the Bruins will likely pair Seidenberg with Zdeno Chara.

Patrice Bergeron sat out Wednesday's practice with a tweaked groin that also kept him out of Tuesday's game against Montreal. He should be considered questionable for tonight's game. Johnny Boychuk is also a question mark as he is still recovering from a broken orbital bone.

The puck drops at 7:00. The game will air on NESN. If you are in the Pittsburgh or New York TV markets, you can catch the game on Versus. Public Skate (open thread) get underway a half hour before puck drop.