The Boston Bruins have returned to TD Garden for a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
The Hurricanes are a good team despite what their mediocre 9-9-4 record would suggest. They are the fourth-best puck-possession team in the NHL with a 53.2 Corsi For percentage at even strength and have a mobile blue line with several quality puck-moving defensemen.
Boston is coming off a 3-2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. The B’s were the better team overall and probably deserved the second point, but they fought hard to erase a two-goal third-period deficit and at least take a single point.
The Bruins will be without captain and top defenseman Zdeno Chara (lower body) for the fifth straight game. Veteran defenseman John-Michael Liles also remains out indefinitely after suffering a concussion Sunday.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (12-10-1)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Tim Schaller–David Krejci–David Backes
Matt Beleskey–Riley Nash–Austin Czarnik
Ryan Spooner–Dominic Moore–Jimmy Hayes
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
K. Miller–Brandon Carlo
Joe Morrow–Colin Miller
Anton Khudobin
CAROLINA HURRICANES (9-9-4)
Jeff Skinner–Victor Rask–Elias Lindholm
Sebastian Aho–Teuvo Teravainen–Lee Stempniak
Brock McGinn–Derek Ryan–Phil Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom–Jay McClement–Viktor Stalberg
Ron Hainsey–Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin–Brett Pesce
Noah Hanifin–Matt Tennyson
Cam Ward
Thumbnail photo via Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports Images
