The Boston Bruins have a treacherous three-game stretch in front of them, and it really couldn’t be happening at a worse time.
The Bruins have dropped three straight, two in regulation and one in overtime, and will now take on the Capitals in Washington D.C. Wednesday’s meeting will pit the top two teams in the NHL against each other, with Boston set to play the second leg of the back-to-back Thursday in Tampa Bay.
For once though, the Bruins lineup has a little bit of normalcy, as injuries currently aren’t ravaging the team as much as they already have this campaign. Brett Ritchie likely will play on the second line right wing with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci, which allows the typical first, third and fourth lines to remain intact.
One of the only changes in terms of skaters could be on the third pairing. John Moore has played in each of the last three games since returning from offseason shoulder surgery, but Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said Moore will sit out against either the Caps or the Lightning, which will allow Connor Clifton to get back into action.
“We’re gonna play Moore and Clifton one of each these two,” Cassidy following Wednesday’s morning skate, via Bruins.com. “We wanted to give Johnny a break on the back to back. We’re still mulling over who will go in tonight and who will go tomorrow in that regard.”
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Bruins and will be opposed by Braden Holtby.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (20-5-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Brett Ritchie
Anders Bjork–Charlie Coyle–Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
John Moore–Matt Grzelcyk
Jaroslav Halak
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (22-5-5)
Alex Ovechkin–Nicklas Backstrom–Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana–Evgeny Kuznetsov–T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin–Lars Eller–Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic–Nic Dowd–Garnet Hathaway
Michal Kempny–John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov–Nick Jensen
Jonas Siegenthaler–Radko Gudas
Braden Holtby
