The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
The B’s will clinch a Stanley Cup playoff berth if they beat their Atlantic Division foe in regulation Tuesday, so this truly is a do-or-die situation for the Lightning.
Boston has won five straight games, but its last loss did come at home on March 23 against Tampa Bay.
The Bruins still are without Frank Vatrano, Jimmy Hayes and Tim Schaller, while Steven Stamkos still isn’t ready to return for the Bolts. Also, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson’s NHL debut won’t happen Tuesday night since he’s a non-roster player and waiting on immigration approval, according to BostonBruins.com.
Here are the projected lineups for Tuesday’s matchup.
BOSTON BRUINS (43-30-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Backes
Drew Stafford–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey–Ryan Spooner–Sean Kuraly
Dominic Moore–Riley Nash–Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
Colin Miller–Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (39-29-10)
Ondrej Palat–Brayden Point–Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn–Tyler Johnson–Jonathan Drouin
Adam Erne–Yanni Gourde–Vladislav Namestnikov
Gabriel Dumont–Greg McKegg–Joel Vermin
Victor Hedman–Jake Dotchin
Anton Stralman–Luke Witkowski
Braydon Coburn–Andrej Sustr
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
