The Boston Bruins had their six-game win streak snapped Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, and they’ll aim to build a new winning run Tuesday night when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes.
This is a huge game for the ‘Canes, who enter Tuesday seven points out of the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 13 games left in the regular season. Carolina cannot afford to drop too many more points if it’s going to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2008-09.
The Bruins are battling injuries to key players right now, but will welcome the return of veteran forward David Backes from his 3-game suspension. He’ll likely go back to his usual spot on the third line.
A pair of No. 1 goalies, Boston’s Tuukka Rask and Carolina’s Cam Ward, are expected to start in net.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (43-16-8)
Brad Marchand–Riley Nash–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Rick Nash
Danton Heinen–David Backes–Brian Gionta
Tim Schaller–Sean Kuraly–Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug–Kevan Miller
Matt Grzelcyk–Nick Holden
Tuukka Rask
CAROLINA HURRICANES (30-28-11)
Sebastian Aho–Jordan Staal–Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn–Elias Lindholm–Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner–Victor Rask–Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom–Derek Ryan–Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin–Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck–Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin–Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
