Playoff Game Day Thread – Round 2, Game 4: Boston Bruins @ Columbus Blue Jackets

It’s still the second round of the playoffs, and the Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets are still going at it, for game 3 of the series. Tonight, on NBCSN.
LET’S GO BRUINS!

Well, the playoffs have progressed and we are into the second round, and this opponent is prone to playing a more physical game than either the Leafs or the Lightning, and the Bruins are not a team that particularly shies away from that.

The Bruins came out with a roar in game one, completely dominating the Blue Jackets, and holding them to one shot on goal for most of the first period. However they only scored once in that time and eventually gave up 2 goals in quick succession a third of the way into the third period on a couple of Bruin gaffes. But Charlie Coyle – was having none of it, and tied the game back up & fired the winning goal in overtime. This gave him a total of 5 goals and 1 assist in 8 playoff games this postseason.

Game two was not as dominant early on, but the Bruins still controlled a significant portion of play. However they also gave away the puck and control in disheartening ways, including a damaging giveaway by Charlie Coyle to Seth Jones in the slot, resulting in a goal against. The Bruins would lose the game in Overtime.

Now the series is tied 1-1 and they will play a couple of games in Columbus. Time to win some hockey games, Bruins.

What will be the lineup tonight?

More tweaking of the lineup.

#NHLBruins coach Bruce Cassidy confirms that David Backes is in for Karson Kuhlman tonight. Will play with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. pic.twitter.com/4IMcZwHlps

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 2, 2019

Kevan Miller and John Moore are still out of the lineup with Miller not even skating at practices. Matt Grzelcyk & Connor Clifton will remain together tonight.

Many of the skaters looked a bit worn down over the past two games, and Coach Cassidy has been struggling to find a way to get David Pastrnak to contribute at the level he is capable of, bouncing him between the Bergeron and Krejci lines. This manifested as Karson Kuhlman rotating in at his most common spot on David Krejci’s right side,with Pasta spending time next to Charlie Coyle. He was back with Bergeron & Marchand on Wednesday, and David Backes was playing on Krejci’s right side.
Tuukka Rask will be in goal.

Bruins Forward Lines
Brad Marchand	Patrice Bergeron	David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk	David Krejci	David Backes
Marcus Johansson	Charlie Coyle	Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom	Sean Kuraly	Noel Acciari
Bruins Defensive pairs
Zdeno Chara	Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug	Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk	Connor Clifton
Bruins Goaltending
#40 Tuukka Rask	(#41 Jaroslav Halak)

The Blue Jackets were dominant on the power play last game, running a single 1:57 shift resulting in no zone-clearing and a goal scored. They are a tiny bit banged up with Ryan Murray, Adam McQuaid and Markus Nutivaara unavailable due to injury. Nutivaara was at the last few practices, so he may make it into the lineup soon. It looks like Texier will be scratched tonight in favor of Alexander Wenberg, resulting in some juggling of the forward lines.
(h/t CBJ reporter Jeff Svoboda @JacketsInsider)

Blue Jackets Forwards
#9 Artemi Panarin — #18 Pierre-Luc Dubois — #13 Cam Atkinson
#71 Nick Foligno — #95 Matt Duchene — #77 Josh Anderson
#19 Ryan Dzingel — #10 Alexander Wennberg — #28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
#17 Brandon Dubinsky — #38 Boone Jenner — #20 Riley Nash

Blue Jackets Defense
#8 Zach Werenski — #3 Seth Jones
#14 Dean Kukan — #58 David Savard
#4 Scott Harrington — #6 Adam Clendening

Blue Jackets Goaltending
#72 Sergei Bobrovsky
(#70 Joonas Korpisalo)