He's aching to play again

WILMINGTON -- Unless he wakes up this morning with pain ripping through his ribs and chest again, Bruins left winger Sergei Samsonov will suit up for only the second time in five weeks tonight when the Minnesota Wild visit Causeway Street.

"We're getting close, but it will be a game-time decision," said Samsonov, who rode on a line with Michael Nylander and Travis Green during the club's 30-minute workout yesterday at Ristuccia Arena. "I'd say it's a good chance that I'll play."

Other than an unsuccessful trial against the Carolina Tropical Depressions Feb. 21, Samsonov has been sidelined by torn rib cartilage since Feb. 10. The Magical Muscovite, if he does return tonight, still has nine games to tune up before the playoffs, and the Hub of Hockey will be eager to see how his abundant skills interface with those of Nylander, who was obtained from the Capitals while Samsonov was serving his protracted recovery stint in the press box.

"I think we were clicking -- we cycled the puck really well," said Samsonov, assessing the line's chemistry in the brief workout. "But it's obviously different in practice than it is in a game, because your teammates aren't playing hard against you."

Samsonov isn't pain free, but doctors and the training staff have told him that he might not be able to expect a complete -- read: painless -- recovery until he has had time to rest in the offseason. The pain has subsided enough that he believes he can operate effectively.

"I've done a few contact drills and had no side effects," said Samsonov, "and it hasn't been sore the next day. I haven't played in a month, and it will be important to get my timing back."

Power brokers

The new-and-improved Bruins power play, which was spiced up Tuesday by a pair of Green strikes, remains in flux. If Samsonov is back, he'll likely get some time on it, too.

"That part of our team will be a constant work in progress," said coach Mike Sullivan, whose first-unit power play these days has Joe Thornton flanked by Nylander and Glen Murray, with Jiri Slegr and Sergei Gonchar at the points. "And we've had some people out of the lineup who more than likely would be on our power-play unit."

One of the absentees has been Samsonov, and the other Patrice Bergeron (shoulder). The latter worked out with the club yesterday, his first time in a team-wide skate since going down with the injury early in the Feb. 24 game at Long Island.

"I felt pretty good out there," said Bergeron, who was in the thick of the Rookie of the Year running until he wrenched the shoulder. "I feel confident that I'll be back before the end of the season. I'll for sure be in before the playoffs, but I don't know how many games."

The Bruins had been shut out on the power play for three straight games (0 for 8) prior to Green's pair of PPGs. The second unit had Green centering Mike Knuble and Marty Lapointe, the latter of whom leads all Bruins with nine goals on the man-advantage.

Overall, Boston's struggling power play has been the key reason the Bruins have the fewest goals (186) in the Northeast Division. As of yesterday morning, 15 clubs had scored more goals than the Bruins.

Wild ride

Marian Gaborik, here tonight with Minnesota, factored in all of the Wild's goals (3-2--5) Tuesday night in a 5-2 win over Ottawa. A holdout through training camp, Gaborik's slow start is among the main reasons the goal-starved Wild won't return to the postseason after making it to the Western Conference finals last year. The skilled forward didn't play until Nov. 4 and only had 6 points by Dec. 3, essentially reducing him to a nonfactor for nearly one-third of the season . . . The Bruins have given up at least one power-play goal in five of their last six games, killing 29 of 35 attempts (82.9 percent) . . . The 700-pound line intact, look for a P.J. Axelsson-Brian Rolston-Lapointe combination if Samsonov remains on a trio with Nylander and Green . . . The Conference-leading Lightning, led by ex-UVMer Martin St. Louis, will be at the Vault for a noon matinee on Saturday . . . Rolston, whose days as a point man appeared over with the acquisition of Gonchar, was back firing from above the circles Tuesday night in Toronto. For now, he's taken the second-unit point job away from Nick Boynton, who scored on a 185-foot shorthanded bank shot last Saturday . . . The Bruins have not scored more than three goals in a game since Feb. 19, but have gone 6-2-3-1 over that stretch.