Game Day Thread: Fancy Cats vs Bruins

Bruins vs Fancy Cats Intensifies

If you remember, the January 4th Panthers @Bruins game had to be postponed because the TD Garden was a tiny bit damp

Just outside the Boston garden causeway st pic.twitter.com/y07b1uMEVv

— dan k (@dankoz6902) January 4, 2018

(Reminder – underneath Causeway street is TD Garden parking and North Station…
If there’s a foot of water ABOVE the street, then there’s ten feet of water BELOW the street)
So closed streets, 1275 parking spaces unavailable, no subway makes Homer go crazy.
Not that we hockey fans wouldn’t have tried it

When last we left our intrepid heroes,…

they faced the Terrible Tootsie Rolls, and their villainous head coach, Guy Boucher – known for his dramatic scars. There’s a long and fascinating story about the scars

err.
Yeah.
It’s long and fascinating, but it’s A SECRET!
Yeah, that’s the ticket! It’s a secret, and you don’t have need to know, and THAT is why I’m not telling you.

The last time the Bruins faced the Florida Panthers — at BB&T Arena — they started a little slow, losing the shot battle badly, giving up a 2 goal deficit, then closing the gap, only to give up a late 3rd period goal and lose the game.
This time, Florida is not playing for a playoff spot. Philly’s win on Saturday punched their ticket, and locked out the Cats.

Rick Nash is ready to return, so is Sean Kuraly. Kuraly and Rick Nash are probable to return today, but Riley Nash is out until later in the week. Tommy Wingels returned last night and scored a goal to let everyone know he was ready for duty.
The Bruins are one standings point and 1 ROW out of first place in the east. If they can pull 2 points out of this game in any fashion, they take over first place in the Atlantic Division as well as 1st place in the Eastern Conference. This means that they have the possibility to play the 3rd place Toronto Maple Leafs or the 8th place New Jersey Devils.
The Devils are a more tractable opponent for the Bruins than the Leafs, but in the end, it isn’t entirely clear which path would increase their odds of getting into the Conference Final and beyond.

Let’s do some lines.

Cassidy was trying Donato at center and Backes on the wing. We will see how long that lasts or if they flip back after a half period.

Bruins Forward Lines
Brad Marchand	Patrice Bergeron	David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk	David Krejci	David Backes
Danton Heinen	Ryan Donato	Brian Gionta
Tim Schaller	Noel Acciari	Tommy Wingels
Bruins Defensive pairs
Zdeno Chara	Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug	Adam McQuaid
Matt Grzelcyk	Kevan Miller
Bruins Goaltending
Tuukka Rask	(Anton Khudobin)

The Panthers had been pretty healthy and were alternating between Mamin & Malgin. (Not to be confused with McGinn. Or McCann. Or MacKenzie.). However, Aleksander Barkov missed the last game due to injury. Lines based on last game, h/t Jack Edwards
“Aleksandr Barkov won’t play due to a shoulder injury sustained in Colby Cave hit in Sunrise Thursday.
Brick’s cousin Connor Brickley, UVM product, skates 4LW for the Panthers.
7:30 on NESN.”

Panthers Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau — Vincent Trocheck — Colton Sceviour
Evgeny Dadonov — Jared McCann — Nick Bjugstad
Frank Vatrano — Denis Malgin — Jamie McGinn
Connor Brickley — Henrik Borsgtom — Maxim Mamin
(Michael Haley Derek MacKenzie)

Panthers Defense

Keith Yandle — Aaron Ekblad
Michael Matheson — Mark Pysyk
Ian McCoshen — MacKenzie Weegar
(Alex Petrovic)

Panthers Goaltending

James Reimer
(Roberto Luongo)

Officiating roster.
(H/T Scouting the Refs):

Referees
Two guys in striped shirts

Linesmen
Two other guys in striped shirts