The Boston Bruins still have an opportunity to clinch a spot in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, but they need to take care of business in Saturday night’s regular-season finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
Even with the Ottawa Senators securing a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon, the Bruins still can reach the postseason if the Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the Buffalo Sabres. A regulation loss by Pittsburgh would require a Boston win in any fashion, while an overtime or shootout loss by the Pens would require a regulation win for the Bruins.
There aren’t any major lineup changes expected for the Bruins. Fourth-line forwards Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille were healthy scratches in Thursday’s loss to the Florida Panthers, and it’s possible one or both of them could enter the lineup Saturday.
Tuukka Rask is expected to start in net for the B’s. He’s 9-3-0 with a 2.33 goals against average and a .915 save percentage against the Lightning in his career. If Rask does play, he’ll become the first Bruins goaltender to play in 70 games since 1963-64.
Boston has won 10 of its last 11 games versus Tampa Bay, but the Lightning won the most recent matchup 5-3 on March 22.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (41-27-13, fifth in Atlantic)
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Reilly Smith-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Max Talbot-Chris Kelly-Brett Connolly
Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Dennis Seidenberg
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman
Tuukka Rask
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (49-24-8, second in Atlantic)
Jonathan Drouin-Steven Stamkos-Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov
Cedric Paquette-Valtteri Filppula-Vladislav Namestnikov
Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman-Anton Stralman
Matthew Carl- Luke Witkowski
Mark Barberio-Nikita Nesterov
Ben Bishop
Thumbnail photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
