Game Day Thread – Playoff Round 2 Game 2: Bruins “@” Bolts

The Bruins are “on the road” playing the Tampa Bay Lightning at their usual Scotiabank Arena, for the second game of their playoff series.

It’s playoff round 2.

The Bruins got back to their old selves through the first round playoff series vs the Carolina Hurricanes. They didn’t always look dominant, but they did take care of business in 5 games.
Notable events included a 3-game absence by an injured David Pastrnak, some appearances by prospects Jack Studnicka, Jeremy Lauzon, Conor Clifton and Karson Kuhlman, and the playoff exit of Vezina-nominee Tuukka Rask. Rask opted out of the playoff bubble, citing a family emergency after two games. The Bruins have since relied on Jaro Halak in net with backup netminder Dan Vladar warming the bench.

In game 1 vs the Lightning looked good for the Bruins – they started out strong, scored first, survived the 2nd period pushback, scored a power play goal, scored a 3rd time – going up 3-0 and survived a late rally for a 1-goal victory.

The Bruins lead the series 1-0

What will be the lines today?
David Pastrnak is still back, Tuukka Rask is still gone.
Nick Ritchie will rotate back in, restoring the Ritchie-Coyle-Bjork line that started this postseason.

Bruins Forward Lines
Brad Marchand	Patrice Bergeron	David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk	David Krejci	Ondřej Kaše
Nick Ritchie	Charlie Coyle	Anders Bjork
Joakim Nordstrom	Sean Kuraly	Chris Wagner
Bruins Defensive pairs
Zdeno Chara	Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug	Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk	Connor Clifton
Bruins Goaltending
#41 Jaroslav Halak	(#81 Dan Vladar)

The Lightning started out a little bit rough, and it briefly looked as if the Blue Jackets might knock them out of the playoffs, but they managed to break through and win their series.
Steven Stamkos has missed the playoffs with a lower body injury. Ryan McDonaugh left late in game 1, and is unlikely to play tonight with Braydon Coburn taking his place. Forward Mitchell Stephens is a scratch with Carter VerhaegheD-man Luke Schenn being called in.

Tampa Bay Lineup:

Forward Lines
————-
Ondrej Palat — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Anthony Cirelli — Tyler Johnson
Barclay Goodrow — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Patrick Maroon — Cedric Paquette

Victor Hedman — Zach Bogosian
Braydon Coburn — Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev — Kevin Shattenkirk
Luke Schenn

Andrei Vasilevskiy
(Curtis McElhinney)