Berkshire Bank Faceoff: Projected Lines, Pairings For Bruins-Blackhawks

The Boston Bruins need a win to climb back into the Stanley Cup playoff picture Sunday as they visit the Chicago Blackhawks in their final road game of the season.

The B’s enter the game one point back of the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL’s Atlantic Division standings and one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the wild-card race. Detroit and Philadelphia both won Saturday.

The Bruins will be without Kevan Miller for their matchup with the Blackhawks after the defenseman suffered a lower body injury during Friday night’s win over the St. Louis Blues. Boston also will be missing D-man Dennis Seidenberg, who is dealing with a lower body injury of his own and did not make the trip.

With Miller and Seidenberg out, Zach Trotman is expected to slot back into the lineup for the first time since March 7.

Chicago will be missing three regulars from its lineup: forward Andrew Shaw, goaltender Corey Crawford and defenseman Duncan Keith. Shaw and Crawford are recovering from injuries, and Keith is serving a six-game suspension for his slash to the face of Minnesota Wild forward Charlie Coyle earlier in the week.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams:

BOSTON BRUINS (41-29-8)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Loui Eriksson
Matt Beleskey — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano — Ryan Spooner — Lee Stempniak
Landon Ferraro — Noel Acciari — Seth Griffith

Zdeno Chara — John-Michael Liles
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow — Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (45-26-7)
Andrew Ladd — Jonathan Toews — Marian Hossa
Artemi Panarin — Ansem Anisimov — Patrick Kane
Tomas Fleischmann — Teuvo Teravainen — Dale Weise
Brandon Mashinter — Marcus Kruger — Andrew Desjardins

Brent Seabrook — Viktor Svedberg
Trevor van Riemsdyk — Niklas Hjalmarsson
Michal Rozsival — Erik Gustafsson

Scott Darling

Thumbnail photo via Dennis Wierzbicki/USA TODAY Sports Images