Chris Kelly

You can call what happened in the third period and overtime of Game 7 against the Maple Leafs a lot of things. To some, it was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the game. To others (including yours truly), it was a monumental collapse from a team that, after storming back from a 3-1 deficit, somehow forgot that desperation works both ways.

For Chris Kelly, it was a case of a team making the best of a bad situation. While he is proud of what the B’s were able to do in the final 20 minutes of the series against the Maple Leafs, he looks at the overall product in Game 7 and sees a lot the Bruins need to fix.

As such, he hopes that the B’s don’t feel too good after advancing past the Leafs. Asked about a potential letdown in Game 1 against the Rangers after Monday’s emotional win, Kelly put things in perspective.

“There had better not be,” Kelly said. “All we did was give ourselves a chance to play in the second round. We put ourselves in that situation being down 4-1. Yeah, it was a great comeback, but — and it’s a big ‘but’ — we put ourselves in that situation in order to comeback and win.”

The Rangers are coming off a seven-game series of their own after coming back from a 3-2 series deficit to eliminate the Rangers in the first round.

Brad Marchand

Following the Bruins’ morning skate, coach Claude Julien said that Brad Marchand will be “there” for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Rangers after leaving the skate early with an apparent injury.

Marchand walked through the B’s dressing room following morning skate and seemed to be in good spirits. He was not limping or noticeably encumbered, though he declined to talk to the media.

“He’ll be fine,” Julien said of Marchand. “He’ll be there tonight.”

Though Marchand did appear to be fine when walking through the room, Carl Soderberg might be the more likely candidate to play in his place than Kaspars Daugavins if Marchand is unable to go. Though Daugavins played in Game 1 of the first round and said he is ready to make a return to the lineup, he stayed out on the ice with the healthy scratches while Soderberg left with the players who figure to be in the lineup.

“First thing that comes to your mind is it sucks when somebody get hurts, first of all,” Daugavins said. “Especially a guy like Marchy who is one of our better players on the team. You know it’s not good for us. Even when you want to play, you don’t want to see your best player go down. It’s tough, but whatever happens happens and you have to be ready just in case they tell you you’re playing. I’m ready. I’m waiting for my chance, and if I go in I’ll do my best.”

As for the trio of injured defensemen, Dennis Seidenberg, Wade Redden and Andrew Ference (none of whom were there for the morning skate), Julien offered no update but said, “Doesn’t look good.”

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Brad Marchand

Dennis Seidenberg, Andrew Ference and Wade Redden all were missing from the Bruins’ morning skate prior to Thursday’s opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Rangers. Furthermore, left wing Brad Marchand left the ice in pain about 20 minutes into the skate following 2-on-1 drills.

With the trio of defensemen absent (all with undisclosed injuries), the lineup looked as follows prior to Marchand’s exit:

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley – Chris Kelly – Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Shawn Thornton

Extra forwards: Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Carl Soderberg

Zdeno Chara – Dougie Hamilton
Matt Bartkowski – Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug – Adam McQuaid

Extra defenseman: Aaron Johnson

If Marchand is unable to play Thursday, Daugavins would be the most likely choice to replace him in the lineup. Daugavins last played in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Maple Leafs.

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Mike Petraglia contributed to this report.

Peter Chiarelli said he will never fire coach Claude Julien. (AP)

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said during an appearance on Salk & Holley on Wednesday that the team will not fire Claude Julien as long as he is the general manager.

“I feel strongly about our coach, and his job is safe,” Chiarelli said of Julien, acknowledging that he had heard heard rumors that both he and the coach would be fired if the Bruins lost Game 7 against the Maple Leafs, but saying, “As long as I’m here, his job is safe.”

Chiarelli added that Julien has won the second-most playoff games of any NHL coach (behind Detroit’s Mike Babcock) since taking over behind the Bruins bench.

“He’s been producing consistently,” Chiarelli said. “He’s a terrific coach.”

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Patrice Bergeron

When Patrice Bergeron won the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward last season, many folks it was overdue. He’d been considered one of the more underrated players in the game for quite some time, but his national exposure during the 2011 playoffs got people’s attention, and the next year he got his first Selke nomination and victory.

More so than other awards, the Selke fraternity is a kind of member-for-life type of club. Once you’ve won it, you’ll be considered every year as long as you’re healthy. Pavel Datsyuk, a three-time winner and a finalist again this season, is proof of that. Now that Bergeron is a member of the club, the Bruins are pleased to see he’s finally getting the recognition from the national media (the trophy is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association).

“I can tell you right now, I would be extremely disappointed and would’ve been vocal about it had he not been [a finalist],” Claude Julien said. “This guy here is so good at both ends of the ice, and he keeps proving it year after year. There’s not too many guys in this league that can do what Patrice does. You saw him, as you mentioned, scoring those goals the other night. But you also see him every year, we talk about Zdeno [Chara] playing against top players on other teams, so does he for the most part. At the end of every year he’s always a plus player, so that tells you a lot about the utility and how valuable this guy is to our team.”

Bergeron led the NHL with a 62.1 success rate on faceoffs (549-for-884) and finished sixth in the league with a plus-24 rating during the regular season. The other two finalists for the award are Datsyuk and Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews are the other finalists for the award.

Patrice Bergeron

Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was named a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy Wednesday. The award, which Bergeron won last season, is awarded to “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.”

Bergeron went 549-for-884 on faceoffs during the regular season, good for a league-best 62.1 success rate. He also finished sixth in the league with a plus-24 rating.

Other nominees for the award, which is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings and Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks.

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Dennis Seidenberg and Andrew Ference were both absent Wednesday as the Bruins practiced at TD Garden in anticipation of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Rangers. Defenseman Wade Redden, who missed Game 7 against the Maple Leafs with an undisclosed injury, was present but did not stay for the whole practice.

The practice featured a slight change to the lines, as Claude Julien flip-flopped right wings Tyler Seguin and Jaromir Jagr. Seguin, who had been skating on the second line with Patrice Bergeron, was moved down a line to skate with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, while Jagr moved up to play with Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

The lines in practice were as follows:

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley – Chris Kelly – Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Shawn Thornton

Extra forwards: Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Carl Soderberg

The defensemen present were Redden, Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton, Aaron Johnson and Tory Krug. The pairings were as follows:

Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-McQuaid

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