The Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning are ready to get their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series underway.
The top-seeded Bolts made quick work of the New Jersey Devils in the first round, eliminating their opponents in five games. The second-seeded Bruins, meanwhile, needed seven grueling games to take care of business against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Black and Gold will roll out the same lineup for Saturday’s Game 1 as they did in Game 7 against the Leafs, with Tuukka Rask once again manning the net. The Lightning will counter with their typical lineup, with Vezina Trophy-candidate Andrei Vasilevskiy handling goaltender duties.
The Bruins enter the semifinal matchup as slight underdogs, which isn’t surprising, considering Tampa’s immense talent. But Boston routinely plays well against Steven Stamkos and Co. and will be eager to start the series off with a win.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (0-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Rick Nash
Danton Heinen–Riley Nash–David Backes
Tim Schaller–Sean Kuraly–Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Kevan Miller
Matt Grzelcyk–Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (0-0)
J.T. Miller – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Yanni Gourde
Chris Kunitz – Cedric Paquette – Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman – Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh – Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn – Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
