The Boston Bruins’ ongoing pursuit to find another stable winger on the second line will continue Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
Wells Fargo Center will play host to a tilt between the Philadelphia Flyers and Bruins, and Boston’s recently recalled winger Peter Cehlarik will get an opportunity to skate on the second unit alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, while David Backes will be a healthy scratch.
Cehlarik has 17 NHL games on his résumé, all of which came in the previous two campaigns, and in that stretch he’s slashed 1-3-4. The 23-year-old has been a far more stable scorer in the AHL, tallying a 10-19-29 line in 37 games with the Providence Bruins before getting summoned to the varsity Tuesday.
Backes struggled to match the speed of the second line, but part of the reason he’s serving as the healthy scratch is because there’s no other line that needs shuffling. The top line remains one of the best in the NHL, the Sean Kuraly trio arguably has been the most effective group after the first unit, and the “college line” of Danton Heinen, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Ryan Donato has been building chemistry well.
In addition to Backes, John Moore is expected to remain a healthy scratch, as well as Steven Kampfer.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Bruins and will be countered by Carter Hart.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Wednesday night’s Bruins-Flyers game.
BOSTON BRUINS (26-15-5)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Peter Cehlarik
Danton Heinen–Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson–Ryan Donato
Sean Kuraly –Noel Acciari– Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk–Kevan Miller
Jaroslav Halak
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (17-23-6)
James van Riemsdyk–Claude Giroux–Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom–Sean Couturier–Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton–Nolan Patrick–Wayne Simmonds
Jori Lehtera–Phil Varone–Michael Raffl
Ivan Provorov–Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere–Andrew MacDonald
Robert Hagg-Radko Gudas
Carter Hart
