News & Observer | newsobserver.com | 2008 NCAA Men's Bracket

BOSTON — Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien will coach the Eastern Conference team in the NHL All-Star Game later this month in Montreal.

No surprise there. Julien's Bruins have a 30-7-4 record and lead the Eastern Conference with 64 points.

Two of those victories have come over the Hurricanes, who play at the TD Banknorth Garden today. Both were by 4-2 scores, although Canes coach Paul Maurice said the two games hardly were similar from Carolina's perspective.

"I thought the first game here that they were better than we were, Maurice said. "We were OK, it was fairly tight. But I thought the game in Raleigh we were pretty darn good and played well with a lot of jump.

"I think what Claude has done so well is he's meshed skill players with physical players but got them all to play the same style of game with the same effort and speed. And I thought we did that in Raleigh. We got all our guys playing the same style of game, with some good energy.

"We're going to have to do that (today) to handle the size of their back end and certainly some of the skill and speed up front."

"The Bruins have called up forwards Byron Bitz and Martins Karsums from Providence (AHL) for today's game. Karsums is Providence's leading scorer this season with 16 goals and 23 assists in 38 games and is eighth in scoring in the AHL.

The Bruins may be without winger Milan Lucic, who missed Thursday's Ottawa game with an undisclosed injury. Center Patrice Bergeron, who suffered a concussion against the Canes on Dec. 20 after a collision with defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, made his first public appearance in the locker room Friday at the Garden and vowed to be back this season, but his return is uncertain.

Bruins winger Marco Sturm will undergo knee surgery Tuesday and likely will miss the rest of the season.

Defenseman Aaron Ward, who missed the first two games against his old team this season, is back in the Bruins' lineup and expect to play against the Canes today.