Game Day Thread: Bruins @ Fancy Cats

Tonight, the Bruins are in Sunrise Florida for the 4th and final match of their current road trip, against the Florida Panthers, at BB&T Arena.

After 33 games, the Bruins are at 20-7-6, which is still good for 1st place in the Atlantic, but falling to 3rd in the league behind the Capitals and the Islanders. A 5 game losing streak has resulted in a slip to 4th in points percentage.

When last we left our heroes, they were facing last year’s President’s Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins got off to a good start, with Patrice Bergeron scoring first, but Tampa Bay’s power play is one of the best in the league, and was devastating against the Bruins, scoring on 2 out of 4 times.
The Bruins power play continued to slump, going scoreless for a 2nd game.

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)

Tonight, the Bruins play the Fancy Cats (a.k.a. the Florida Panthers). They’ve been a middling team all season but have been more effective recently, though going 3-3-0 in their last six games, and are 8-4-5 on the season for 21 points and 3rd place in the division. They have a few new faces, including Brian Boyle, Noel Acciari, Anton Stralman,
& Brett “dog years” Connolly. Sadly, the amusing Roberto Luongo is no longer playing, replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky. They’ve got 2 guys out with injury – Jayce Hawryluk, who has a long-term upper-body injury, and – unfortunately – Noel Acciari, who did not play on Saturday, due to a lower body injury. Aleksandr Barkov is hot, with 22 points (though only 5 goals) as is Jonathan Huberdeau, with 21 points, including 9 goals. Bob could be doing better, as his GAA is above 3.3 and his save % is under .900. (h/t Daily Faceoff and Jameson Olive):

Panthers Forwards
#11 Jonathan Huberdeau — #16 Aleksander Barkov — #63 Evgenii Dadonov
#68 Mike Hoffman — #21 Vincent Trocheck — #10 Brett Connolly
#72 Frank Vatrano — #55 Noel Acciari — #62 Denis Malgin
#14 Dominic Toninato — #9 Brian Boyle — #7 Colton Sceviour

Panthers Defense
#52 MacKenzie Weegar — #5 Aaron Ekblad
#3 Keith Yandle — #6 Anton Stralman
#19 Michael Matheson — #2 Josh Brown

Panthers Goaltending
#72 Sergei Bobrovsky
(#60 Chris Driedger)