bruins injury updates - prior to game four

I got confirmation from my sources (saw it on TV) that the Bruins will be without the services of Andrew Ference and Blake Wheeler in Game Four. Ference re-injured his lower body - man, I hate it when that happens - and Wheeler was hit by a puck in Game Three.

This means that we probably will see Shane Hnidy in for Game Four, but not at the expense of Steve Montador, as I was hoping earlier. Regardless of who the fill-in might be, the Bruins are simply not as strong with Ference out of the lineup given the player he's become. But the B's do have enough experience with his absence (again, he re-injured his lower body) to probably be comfortable playing without him.

Wheeler's absence is a little trickier. He is 6'5" and 205 pounds with a tremendous upside. However, he's been under effective in this round, becoming invisible for long stretches of games (and Julien usually rolls 4 lines).

Coming into the lineup will most likely be Byron Bitz, who has played less games than Wheeler, but has logged far more games than the next nearest player. Bitz is 6'3" and 200 pounds, so if he's able to at least come in and move some bodies around, he could be effective.

One big difference though: in the Regular Season, Bitz was even on his plus / minus; Wheeler, however, was a plus 36.

We'll see what line combination Coach Julien puts together with his roster tomorrow night. Please tell me Cam Neely is suiting up for the game...we could use a little jam.