By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff

Shawn Thornton skated this morning while wearing a shield. However, Thornton has not been cleared to play tonight. The concern is with the number of stitches (40-plus) that are holding the wound together.

Michael Ryder, a healthy scratch the last two games, will play in place of Thornton.

Thornton said he didn't know who was giving him a hard time as he skated off the ice. His teammates, however, believe Patrick Kane and Troy Brouwer were involved. On the following shift after Thornton was injured, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Zdeno Chara were among the Bruins letting the two Blackhawks know that such insults were not acceptable.

"They got on the ice and immediately we wanted to let them know that it's unacceptable," said Marchand. "It's a gutless thing to do, when a guy's hurt like that and you start chirping him. We definitely wanted to let them know we weren't going to accept that."

Steven Kampfer, also a healthy scratch recently, will play tonight. Kampfer will replace Johnny Boychuk, who is being given the night off. Claude Julien said that's not a reflection on Boychuk's play.

Tonight's lineup:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Rich Peverley-Chris Kelly-Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Michael Ryder

Zdeno Chara-Steven Kampfer
Tomas Kaberle-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask