There will be a few key faces missing from Monday night’s Atlantic Division clash between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, but that doesn’t make the tilt at Scotiabank Arena any less important.
Toronto will be without star center Auston Matthews (shoulder) and William Nylander (contract holdout) while Patrice Bergeron (rib/sternoclavicular injury) and Zdeno Chara (knee) will not be on the ice for Boston.
The Leafs (32 points) have been playing well of late despite missing Matthews and Nylander, winning eight of their last 11 games. The Bruins (30 points) have rebounded from a shaky four-game road trip by winning two in a row, including a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has been getting good play out of his second line of late, namely Jake DeBrusk. The young winger has potted seven goals in his last nine contests and has seen his game improve since returning to David Krejci’s wing.
While netminder Tuukka Rask has played well of late, Cassidy will send out Jaroslav Halak to stop the Leafs.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Bruins-Maple Leafs:
BOSTON BRUINS (13-6-4)
Brad Marchand — Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson — David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen — David Krejci — Jake DeBrusk
Anders Bjork – Joakim Nordstrom – Noel Acciari
Chris Wagner — Colby Cave — David Backes
John Moore — Kevan Miller
Torey Krug — Connor Clifton
Jeremy Lauzon — Matt Grzelcyk
Jaroslav Halak
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (16-8-0)
Zach Hyman — John Tavares — Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau — Nazem Kadri — Kasperi Kapanen
Andreas Johnsson — Par Lindholm — Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis — Frederik Gauthier — Josh Leivo
Morgan Rielly — Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner — Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott — Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
