The Boston Bruins are coming off a bad 4-0 loss at home to the New York Islanders on Monday afternoon, and they face another important game versus an inferior team in the Detroit Red Wings on the road Wednesday night.
Boston sits in second place in the Atlantic Division, but that position is a bit deceiving. The Bruins have a slim one-point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators in the division, and both of these teams also have five games in hand on the B’s.
Therefore, the Bruins must go on some kind of win streak — or at least establish some consistency — to keep pace in a playoff race that’s becoming tighter and more competitive by the day. Just three of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference are more than three points out of a wild-card spot, and all of them have played fewer games than Boston.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (23-19-5)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano–David Krejci–David Backes
Tim Schaller–Ryan Spooner–Riley Nash
Austin Czarnik–Dominic Moore–Anton Blidh
Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow–John-Michael Liles
Tuukka Rask
DETROIT RED WINGS (19-19-6)
Gustav Nyquist–Henrik Zetterberg–Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou–Frans Nielsen–Thomas Vanek
Tomas Tatar–Riley Sheahan–Dylan Larkin
Justin Abdelkader–Luke Glendening–Drew Miller
Danny DeKeyser–Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson–Alexey Marchenko
Xavier Ouellet–Nick Jensen
Petr Mrazek
Thumbnail photo via Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports Images
