The Boston Bruins have a tremendous opportunity to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at TD Garden.
Why the optimism for the B’s? Well, the Leafs’ second-line center and 32-goal scorer Nazem Kadri has been suspended for three games for boarding Bruins forward Tommy Wingels in the third period of Thursday’s Game 1.
The B’s won that game 5-1 with four unanswered goals beginning in the second period.
Ryan Donato reportedly will get his first postseason start as Wingels will be unable to go Saturday night, according to Boston Sports Journal’s Joe McDonald.
Boston’s Tuukka Rask and Toronto’s Frederik Andersen will start in net. Andersen had a 10-1-0 record in his career versus the Bruins before giving up five goals in Toronto’s Game 1 loss.
Here are the projected Game 2 lineups for both teams.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (0-1)
Leo Komarov–Auston Matthews–William Nylander
Zach Hyman–Patrick Marleau–Mitchell Marner
James van Riemsdyk–Tyler Bozak–Connor Brown
Andreas Johnsson–Tomas Plekanec–Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly–Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner–Nikita Zaitsev
Tyler Dermott–Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
BOSTON BRUINS (1-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Rick Nash
Danton Heinen–Noel Acciari–David Backes
Tim Schaller–Sean Kuraly–Ryan Donato
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Kevan Miller
Matt Grzelcyk–Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
