The Boston Bruins are hanging on to a playoff spot, but they’ll need to right the ship if they have any hopes of playing in the postseason.
The B’s have lost three games in a row and are just 5-5 in their last 10 contests. They enter Thursday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning just two points up on the New York Islanders for the second Wild Card spot.
Luckily for Boston, it’s undefeated against Tampa Bay this season, going a perfect 3-0-0. The Lightning also are expected to be without star center Steven Stamkos, so Thursday night’s matchup at TD Garden could be just what the doctor ordered for the Black and Gold.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (38-29-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Backes
Drew Stafford–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano–Ryan Spooner–Noel Acciari
Matt Beleskey–Dominic Moore–Riley Nash
Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
Colin Miller–Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (34-29-9)
Ondrej Palat–Brayden Point–Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn–Vladislav Namestnikov–Jonathan Drouin
Adam Erne–Yanni Gourde–Joel Vermin
Luke Witkowski–Gabriel Dumont–J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman–Jake Dotchin
Jason Garrison–Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn–Andrej Sustr
Peter Budaj
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
