PITTSBURGH – Good morning from the Consol Energy Center, where the Bruins will square off against the streaking Penguins this afternoon. Pittsburgh is gaining ground on the Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference.

At the same time, the Bruins are just two points ahead of Ottawa in the Northeast Division sprint. The Senators lost to Buffalo in overtime on Saturday.

Marty Turco could make his Bruins debut today. Tim Thomas has started a season-high four straight games.

No word on whether Benoit Pouliot (lower body) will be available. If Pouliot can’t play, Max Sauve will make his NHL debut.

It’s possible Andrew Ference and Daniel Paille could play today. Ference appeared to be preparing for warmups. Claude Julien might have some insight later this morning prior to the game.

Puck drop: 12:30 p.m.

TV/radio info: NBC (Mike Emrick, Ed Olczyk, Pierre McGuire),98.5 The Sports Hub (Dave Goucher, Bob Beers)

Records: Bruins 40-24-3, Penguins 41-21-5

Projected Bruins lineup:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Tyler Seguin
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jordan Caron
Max Sauve-Chris Kelly-Brian Rolston
Lane MacDermid-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Greg Zanon-Adam McQuaid

Marty Turco
Tim Thomas

Healthy scratches: Mike Mottau

Storylines: Sidney Crosby will not play today. Crosby is continuing to progress, but will get in several more practices before dressing for a game… Jordan Staal has three goals and seven assists in his last seven games. Staal has established himself as a legitimate top-two center with Crosby out… Pittsburgh has the league’s best PK (89.3 percent)… This will be the last regular-season game for the Bruins on NBC. They have filled their quota. The April 1 game against the Rangers will not be moved up to 12:30 p.m. It will remain a 3 p.m. match… Marc Joannette and Mike Leggo will be the referees. Michel Cormier and Derek Amell will be the linesmen.

@GlobeFluto