Providence received first-period goals from Andrew Bodnarchuk and Tyler Randell.

Matt Watkins and Ryan Duncan scored for Portland.

Chris Kelly and Nathan Horton scored in regulation for Boston, which snapped a two-game skid to give coach Claude Julien his 300th NHL win. Nathan's tying goal at 7:56 of the third sent the game to overtime.

Boston goalie Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots through overtime, then was perfect against Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp in the shootout.

Kane and Bryan Bickell scored in regulation for the Blackhawks, who got 35 saves from Corey Crawford.

St. Laurent, 20, played for St. John of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Surrey of the British Columbia Hockey League last season. He attended Vancouver's training camp, said coach Butch Cassidy.

"One of our scouts liked him, and we're kind of looking for a little depth at that position,'' said Cassidy.

Though the P-Bruins have three games in three nights this weekend, it remains to be seen whether St. Laurent will play.

"It's not ideal for a goalie to go three in three, but Dobie's our No. 1, and he just might get three in three,'' Cassidy said, referring to starter Anton Khudobin.

Carter Camper and Tyler Randell are the scratches for tonight's game against Manchester at The Dunk.

"This game's not fair all the time in terms of who gets scratched. Right now, I don't think that any of the young guys have truly separated themselves,'' Cassidy said.

"I'm happy with the way they've played at times, and at times they've made mistakes. It's (Camper and Randell's) turn tonight, and we'll reevaluate tomorrow.''

Tonight's lines:

Sauve-Whitfield-Hamill
Tardif-Hennessy-Arniel
MacDermid-Cunningham-MacDonald
MacKinnon-Chaput-Ridderwall

Defense:
Bodnarchuk, Cohen, Miller, Warsofsky, McKelvie, Cantin

Three losses -- two of them at home -- in their first four games, with a total of three goals in the three defeats.

Could we be looking at a Red Sox-like, 2-10 start?

The 25-year-old center stayed behind when the team flew out of Boston on Tuesday afternoon.

"Krejci will continue to be evaluated by the team's medical staff here in Boston and his status for Saturday's game in Chicago will be determined later in the week,'' according to a statement on the Bruins Web site.

The injury could clear the way for Tyler Seguin to temporarily move from wing to center, which is the position he played in junior hockey.

If Seguin takes Krejci's place between Nathan Hortan and Brad Marchand, left wing Jordan Caron, a healthy scratch on Monday, could skate with Chris Kelly and Benoit Pouliot.

Riendeau failed to register a shot on Friday night and was a healthy scratch on Sunday.

The 23-year-old scored 126 points in 64 games in leading the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in scoring in 2008-09, but has managed just 5 points in 29 games in Providence. He spent most of last year with Reading.

Power skating coach Besa Tsintsadze put the players through skating drills for about 50 minutes, and then coach Butch Cassidy had the team do one-on-one and then two-on-two battle drills in one end of the ice.

"That was done today because it was an issue this weekend,'' Cassidy said. "We need to be harder to play against. We need to be stronger on pucks, and we need to protect pucks both breaking out of our end and in the offensive end.

"Our D were thinking too much (in the first two games). Maybe they need to get into the mindset of when they were younger: Get back on the puck in a hurry and skate. Play like a kid again in terms of 'Hey, I'm gonna get the puck, skate it, make a good decision and move it,' instead of looking for something else,'' said Cassidy.

"For forwards, they've got to be tenacious. We don't have a lineup of six-foot-four guys. We need a little bit more Brad Marchand up front.''

Boston assistant general manager Don Sweeney watched practice from the stands.

Cassidy is looking for much more from his top players.

"Our best players were outplayed, in both games, by their best players. No matter how you coach, if that happens more times than not, you're going to end up on the wrong side (of the score). We'll work on some things this week, and hopefully our better players will be better this weekend,'' he said.

"We don't want to panic, but we need to be aware in the room that we need to be better,'' he said.

Josh Hennessy (knee), Andrew Bodnarchuk (shoulder) and Zach McKelvie (concussion) have been cleared to play this weekend, Cassidy said. Kirk MacDonald has a minor finger injury that should not keep him out.

The return of Hennessy and Bodnarchuk is particularly welcome.

"You're injecting some speed into your lineup and experience. You're putting your No. 1 center back where he's supposed to play,'' said Cassidy. "We're putting Bodnarchuk back in a position where he can settle the defense a little bit, so those young guys don't have to play so many minutes against their top line.''

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At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, before the broadcast of the Bruins-Carolina game, VERSUS will present a 30-minute show on last week's Stanley Cup ring presentation and the raising of the banner at the TD Garden.

Here's the news release from VERSUS:

The half-hour special will feature behind-the-scenes access for the Bruins' triumphant return to TD Garden on Thursday, October 6, for the banner raising and championship ring ceremonies as well as the team's three-day journey leading into opening night as the Bruins prepare to defend the Stanley Cup this season.

The show will focus on Boston's history as one of America's most fervent hockey towns and will highlight how the Bruins used hard work and determination to overcome many obstacles on their way to winning the city's first Stanley Cup in 39 years. It will also draw parallels with Bobby Orr's two championships in the 1970s and the city's passion for the sport that was rejuvenated by the 2011 championship team. The special also features exclusive interviews with the player that emerged as the heart and soul of the team last season, goaltender Tim Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thomas' career will be followed from the University of Vermont, to playing in the minors and around Europe, to finally becoming an elite goalie in the NHL.

Forward Shawn Thornton and Head Coach Claude Julien were wired for sound during the Bruins practices leading up to opening night and will be featured in the show along with one of the Bruin's youngest talents, Brad Marchand. Additional vignettes will include the team's summer with the Cup as well as interviews from other Bruins players and local fans.

Krejci suffered an apparent leg injury but head coach Claude Julien called it a "body" injury.

"I don't know," Julien told the media about the injury. "I can't really tell you the severity of it right now. He's being looked at. I can probably give you more this afternoon when we find out more."

Terms were not disclosed.

Peverley, who was acquired from Atlanta along with Boris Valabik in exchange for Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler, was set to become a free agent at the end of the season.

The UMass-Amherst grad, who spent the past few seasons in Europe, was minus-1 in the team's first two games. He is bound for Reading of the ECHL.

The Stanley Cup champion Bruins have lost two of three to start the season.
Hejduk scored the Avalanche's first goal of the season. They lost 3-0 at home to Detroit in their opener Saturday night.

Varlamov was acquired from Washington for a pair of draft picks during the summer. He had 36 saves in the loss to the Red Wings.

With eight first-year pros in their lineup, Providence looked tentative and nervous in dropping a 4-1 decision to the St. John's IceCaps in the season opener before 10,339 fans.

"I thought we would have more push-back. Opening night sometimes can work against you. It's not an excuse at all. They were better than us.'' said coach Butch Cassidy.

"I would assume they were (nervous). We've got a lot of young guys, especially on the back end. We're not kidding anybody there. It's a young group and they're going to need help from our forward group.

"We weren't clean tonight breaking out of our end, and that made it tough for the forwards to get going. We really had no sustained pressure.''

St. John's opened the scoring just 75 seconds into the game when Mark Flood's blast from the blueline trickled past Anton Khudobin. Marco Rosa and Spencer Machacek were credited with assists on the first goal in the history of the IceCaps franchise.

Providence tied it at 4:10 when Max Sauve sniped a 25-footer from the right circle under the crossbar past goalie David Aebischer. Carter Camper and Jamie Arniel assisted.

That was as good as it got for Providence.

McCambridge, 37, has fond memories of his time in Providence.

"I had Peter Laviolette (as coach) my first season and Bill Armstrong the following two seasons,'' he said.

"This was a very well-run organization, by (CEO) Jeff Fear upstairs, in affiliation with Boston, and a very good city for the players. The atmosphere in this building was always electric and the fans are knowledgable.

"This is the first time I've seen the renovations (at the Dunkin Donuts Center) and it looks really sharp, really updated. Playing here was a really enjoyable experience.''

McCambridge engaged in a few fisticuffs while with the P-Bruins, compiling 623 penalty minutes in 169 games.

He laughed when reminded of a game in which he jumped out of the Providence penalty box and into the Springfield penalty box to fight with one of the Falcons.

"My parents had come down to Providence to watch me play, and then their son's ejected from the game. Not exactly what they planned after traveling from Winnipeg,'' said McCambridge.

Friday night's game was the first ever for the IceCaps. The franchise -- formerly known as the Manitoba Moose -- relocated to Newfoundland when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg over the summer.

McCambridge got into coaching as a player-assistant with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL in 2003, and later moved up to non-playing assistant and then to head coach. For the last two seasons he was an assistant with the Moose.

Coincidentally, all four head coaches in the nine-year ECHL history of the Alaska Aces -- Davis Payne, McCambridge, Brent Thompson and Rob Murray -- either played or coached in Providence.

Trent Whitfield will continue to be the captain.

"We're going to have two assistants, home and road, for each month,'' said Cassidy, whose team opens tonight against St. John's at The Dunk.

"Hamill and MacDonald have been here for three years,'' he said. "I think they can both do a good job.''

For the first three months of the season, the players wearing the 'A' will be veterans.

"And then in the second half of the year, I'm hoping that maybe a second-year guy emerges -- a Sauve, a Cohen, somebody like that. We want to develop leaders, too. That's a small way to do it,'' Cassidy said.

Stefan Chaput and Calle Ridderwall will be healthy scratches tonight.

Josh Hennessy (knee), Andrew Bodnarchuk (shoulder), Zach McKelvie (concussion) and Nate McIver (ankle) will not play.

Tonight's lines:
Sauve-Camper-Arniel
MacDermid-Whitfield-MacDonald
Hamill-Cunningham-Tardif
Riendeau-MacKinnon-Randell

Defense:
Warsofsky, Cohen, Button, Miller, Cantin, Degon

Anton Khudobin starts in goal.