Tonight, the Bruins are in Tampa for the 3rd match of their current road trip, against the Lightning, hosted by Amalie Arena.
After 31 games, the Bruins are at 20-6-6, which is still good for 1st place in the Atlantic, 5 points behind the Capitals for the league lead with 46 standings points.
When last we left our heroes, they were facing the league leading Capitals. While they had been playing with a lack of energy & skill in recent games, they were competitive in this one. However, they still would be behind on the scoreboard.
What will be the lineup tonight?
Looks like the usual suspects.
The remaining injuries are improving slowly – Defensemen Kevan Miller is still not ready for his season debut. Forward Karson Kuhlman is still dealing with his fractured arm, and is reportedly not close to returning.
Steven Kampfer still resides in Providence, so John Moore & Connor Clifton are competing for the 6th defenseman spot. It is likely that Moore plays tonight.
Tuukka Rask will be in goal tonight.
| Bruins Forward Lines | ||
|---|---|---|
 Brad Marchand |
 Patrice Bergeron |
 David Pastrnak |
 Jake DeBrusk |
 David Krejci |
 #18 Brett Ritchie |
 Danton Heinen |
 Charlie Coyle |
 Anders Bjork |
 Joakim Nordstrom |
 Sean Kuraly |
 Chris Wagner |
| Bruins Defensive pairs | ||
 Zdeno Chara |
 Charlie McAvoy |
|
 Torey Krug |
 Brandon Carlo |
|
 John Moore |
 Matt Grzelcyk |
|
| Bruins Goaltending | ||
| #40 Tuukka Rask | (#41 Jaroslav Halak) |
Today’s opponents are the Tampa Bay Lightning. They were last season’s President’s Cup winners, so surely they would still dominate this year, right? Eh, really not. They have won 3 games out of their last 6, and have a season record of 15-11-3 (33 points), which is only good for 6th place in the Atlantic division.
In the offseason, the Lighning made some acquisitions of note – forward Patrick Maroon from St. Louis, D-man Kevin Shattenkirk (from the Rangers) as well as former Canes goalie Curtis McElhinney (Louis Domingue is with the NJ Devils).
There are a couple of injuries of note – Brayden Coburn is on IR and Tyler Johnson is out with injury.
(h/t Daily Faceoff and the Athletic’s @JoeSmithTB)
Lightning Forwards
#18 Ondrej Palat — #21 Brayden Point — #86 Nikita Kucherov
#17 Alex Killorn — #71 Anthony Cirelli — #91 Steven Stamkos
#14 Patrick Maroon — #13 Cedric Paquette — #37 Yanni Gourde
#23 Carter Verhaeghe — #67 Mitchell Stephens — #7 Mathieu Joseph
Lightning Defense
#77 Victor Hedman — #44 Jan Rutta
#5 Dan Girardi — #33 Cameron Gaunce
#27 Ryan McDonagh — #81 Erik Cernak
#98 Mikhail Sergachev — #22 Kevin Shattenkirk
Panthers Goaltending
#88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
(#35 Curtis McElhinney)
Crap! Tuukka deserved better there.
Yep.
When you realize that after 1:10 it’s the same unit out there that’s been doing 200′ sprints, you know that it’s gonna turn bad soon.
B rad chirping away
Some of these soft area passes scare the crap out of me!
Marchand WANTS it!
Brutal hook on Pasta there.
Can NESN not afford chairs?? The stand up thing seems awkward.
Great first period…. not crazy about th no call Stamkos crosscheck
He did the same in the offensive zone last game and scored off the play….. Does he need his leg broken again, or suntin’?
Big kill there cos that was a scary PP!
Well, THAT’s a nice start!
Perfect start!