Bruins excited for Garden opener

By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com Bruins InsiderFollow @hackswithhaggs
BOSTON -- The Bruins will make their 2011-12 debut at TD Garden tonight as reigning Stanley Cup champions, and should get a solid ovation from a Bruins fan base still drunk from the summer Cup celebration.

The Bruins will take on the Islanders at the Garden and the game will be streamed at bostonbruins.comwith the 98.5 The Sports Hub broadcast team providing the commentary.

Its going to be great playing against another team rather than ourselves in this building, said Johnny Boychuk. Weve had a lot of support over the summer since weve won, and I dont expect it to die down at all.

The Bruins lines are actually pretty intriguing if they mimic the lines from this morning's skate at TD Garden. Should be an excellent dress rehearsal test for 19-year-old Jared Knight skating with top-liners David Krejci and Milan Lucic, and -- as expected -- Rich Peverley gets the first crack at Recchi's spot at right wing alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. His speed and tenacity could mesh very nicely with the considerable, established chemistry of Bergeron and Marchand.

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Rich Peverley
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jared Knight
Lane MacDermid-Alexander Khokhlachev-Benoit Pouliot
Daniel Paille-Zach Hamill-Jamie Arniel

Zdeno Chara-Steven Kampfer
Zach McKelvie-Dennis Seidenberg
Matt Bartkowski-Johnny Boychuk

Tim Thomas-Anton Khudobin