(SportsNetwork.com) - Tuukka Rask had a first-hand look at how important Tim Thomas was to the Boston Bruins franchise. Rask and the Bruins will face their former teammate on Thursday night, when Thomas is expected to start for the Florida Panthers against visiting Boston. Thomas, a former ninth-round pick by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 draft, signed as a free agent with the Bruins in 2002 and made his NHL debut with the club that season, appearing in four games. He eventually became the No. 1 goaltender with the Bruins and went 196-121-45 in 378 regular-season games with the club. The 39-year-old also posted a postseason record of 29-21 in 50 games with the Bruins, logging a 2.07 goals against average and .933 save percentage. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2011 after helping lead Boston to its first Stanley Cup title since 1972. Thomas, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, played one more season with the Bruins before sitting out the lockout-shortened campaign. He became a free agent this past offseason and appeared in training camp with the Panthers on a professional tryout before signing a one-year deal just before the start of the season. Thomas has made three appearances with the Panthers, allowing nine goals on 60 shots faced. However, he has not played since exiting last Tuesdays game versus Philadelphia early with a groin injury. He is expected to play tonight, per Floridas official twitter account. "All those years shooting on him in practice and what not, I think itll be fun to finally shoot on him in a game and Im sure hes looking forward to it as well," said Bostons Milan Lucic. "Im sure hes happy to be back in the NHL playing and hes found a new home here in Florida." Thomas year off allowed Rask to grab hold of Bostons starting goaltender job after he spent the majority of his career backing up the former since being acquired from Toronto on June 24, 2006. Rask went 19-10-5 with a 9.29 GAA in 36 games last season, helping the Bruins get to the Stanley Cup Finals. "I never thought that we would play against each other. But Im glad that he made his comeback and proved people wrong again, and I hope he does well," said the 26-year-old Rask, who is 7-1-0 with a 0.86 GAA, .972 save percentage and three shutouts lifetime versus the Panthers. Boston will play three straight on the road after opening the season with four of five at home and lost for the second time in its past three games with Mondays 3-2 setback to Detroit. Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic tallied for the Bruins, while Rask made 24 saves. "Were really struggling with our finish right now. The chances are there but goals are not coming easy," noted Bruins head coach Claude Julien. The Panthers, meanwhile, begin a six-game homestand and have lost five of seven to begin the season. They were last in action on Tuesday, a 4-3 setback to Nashville. Jonathan Huberdeau, Marcel Goc and Matt Gilroy netted goals in the loss, while Jacob Markstrom surrendered all four goals on 30 shots. "We did some good things tonight with our forecheck and creating turnovers," said Huberdeau. "We can look to build on that for our next game and get some of our mistakes straightened out." The Bruins won all three of their meetings with the Panthers a season ago, outscoring them 11-2. They have won nine of the last 11 encounters overall and six of the past seven in Florida. Air Max 90 White Outlet . The appointment of Boullier continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring at McLaren, who recently brought back former team principal Ron Dennis as its new chief executive. 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Ariza made eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 40 points to help the Washington Wizards win their sixth straight game, 122-103 over Philadelphia on Saturday night.MALABO, Equatorial Guinea - Ghana, Algeria, South Africa and Senegal were drawn together Wednesday in one of two extremely tough groups for next years African Cup of Nations.In the other, its Ivory Coast, Mali, Cameroon and Guinea.New host Equatorial Guinea will play Republic of Congo in the opening game of the four-group, 16-team African Cup on Jan. 17. Gabon and 2013 finalist Burkina Faso are the other teams in Group A and also meet on the first day.Group B has 2012 champion Zambia, Tunisia, Cape Verde and Congo.Group C will surely be the hardest of the four. It brings together two former World Cup quarterfinalists in Ghana and Senegal, top-ranked African side Algeria and former Cup of Nations winner South Africa, which was unbeaten in the final round of qualifiers to help eliminate defending champion Nigeria.Star-studded Ivory Coast and four-time champion Cameroon will renew their rivalry in Group D at the finals after they were in the same group in qualifying. They were joined by Mali, a semifinalist and the third-place team at the last two Cup of Nations.The draw for the 2015 Cup of Nations was held in the Equatorial Guinea capital of Malabo after the central African country replaced Morocco as host at short notice. Morocco had requested a postponement of the championship because of the West African Ebola outbreak. Organizers the Confederation of African Football refused and announced last month they were moving the Jan. 17-Feb. 8 cup to Equatorial Guinea.On Wednesday, CAF Presidentt Issa Hayatou thanked Equatorial Guinea for stepping in just two months ahead of kickoff to rescue the continents showpiece soccer event.ddddddddddddCAF will never forget this gesture by Equatorial Guinea, Hayatou said at the draw ceremony before passing the golden Cup of Nations trophy to Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.But the focus now will be on the state of the oil-rich nations preparations after no other country appeared willing to step in as host, apparently forcing CAF to go with its only option.Equatorial Guinea co-hosted the African Cup with Gabon in 2012 and will use existing facilities in two of the four host cities for 2015; the capital Malabo and Bata, the largest city. However, it plans this time to also hold games in the more remote cities of Mongomo and Ebebiyin, where it is rushing to complete new stadiums in time for the start, which is around six weeks away.This week, a government delegation expressed concerns over delays to stadium construction work in the far eastern cities of Mongomo and Ebebiyin, according to the government news agency. CAF has not released details on the size or readiness of the planned stadiums in those two cities.Group C games will be in Mongomo, with Ghana opening against Senegal and South Africa playing Algeria in the first round.Ivory Coast starts its quest for a long-awaited first title since 1992 against Guinea, while Cameroon plays Mali. In Group B, Zambia faces Congo and Tunisia plays Cape Verde first. ' ' '