More line juggling

WILMINGTON, Mass. — The return of center Marc Savard after a maintenance day yesterday and the continued absence of Shawn Thornton forced Claude Julien to continue tweaking his lines today for practice at Ristuccia Arena.

Savard centered Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi on what will obviously be called the “Mark Line.” Michael Ryder and Brad Marchand flanked Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci was joined by Vladimir Sobotka and Blake Wheeler and Steve Begin’s line featured Byron Bitz and usual seventh defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who played a little forward a couple years ago while with Colorado.

In addition to Boychuk, the other six defensemen and both goaltenders were on the ice.

Defenseman Andrew Ference skated off late in the session after he got a puck to the face during a battle drill.