BOSTON — The Bruins open a difficult weekend back-to-back with a game Saturday night against the New York Islanders before a Sunday night showdown with the rival Montreal Canadiens.
Boston is expected to start Saturday’s matchup with the same lineup it used at the beginning of Wednesday’s game against the New York Rangers. B’s head coach Claude Julien has switched up his right wingers on the top three lines a few times over the last two weeks, and we could see more shuffling if the Islanders build an early lead.
The Bruins’ starting netminder has not been revealed. Tuukka Rask hasn’t played well on the second half of back-to-backs this season, but backup goalie Malcolm Subban has zero NHL experience. The warmup should give a good indication of who’s going to start.
The Islanders will start former Bruins goalie Chad Johnson in net. He’s 1-0-0 against the Bruins this season, but he’s struggled over his last 10 games. He’s allowed four-plus goals in seven of his last 10 starts and owns a 4-6-0 record during that span.
Josh Bailey is expected to skate alongside Isles No.1 center John Tavares on the first line in place of the injured Kyle Okposo.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (27-17-7, fourth in Atlantic)
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Reilly Smith
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Loui Eriksson
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-David Pastrnak
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Craig Cunningham
Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (33-17-1, second in Metropolitan)
Anders Lee-John Tavares-Josh Bailey
Mikhail Grabovski-Frans Nielsen-Nikolai Kulemin
Michael Grabner-Brock Nelson-Ryan Strome
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy-Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey-Brian Strait
Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic
Chad Johnson
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
