The Boston Bruins had a pretty colossal meltdown Monday night, and one player’s perceived listlessness is getting him benched.
Following a 6-5 shootout loss — where the Bruins blew a 5-2 lead and Brad Marchand botched his shootout attempt — the B’s look to get back on track Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Matt Grzelcyk is going to be benched against the Jackets, with Steven Kampfer playing instead. Grzelcyk had left Saturday’s win over the New York Islanders with a lower-body injury, so head coach Bruce Cassidy initially was asked if Grzelcyk was being kept out in order to manage the injury.
“Nah, he didn’t play well,” Cassidy responded. “So the other guy is going to go in and when he gets back in there hopefully he’s better.”
One has to think the play that really drew the ire of Cassidy was Travis Sanheim’s game-tying goal for the Flyers in the third period Monday. Grzelcyk, Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle did a poor job defending the front of the net, allowing Sanheim to walk in, get a pass from behind the goal and bury it. After the game, Cassidy called the sequence “inexcusable.”
Kampfer will skate on the third pairing with John Moore.
The only other expected change for the Bruins will be Tuukka Rask in net instead of Jaroslav Halak. Elvis Merzlikins likely will start for the hosts.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (27-8-12)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Anders Bjork
Danton Heinen–Charlie Coyle–Brett Ritchie
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
John Moore–Steven Kampfer
Tuukka Rask
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (22-16-8)
Sonny Milano–Pierre-Luc Dubois–Emil Bemstrom
Gustav Nyquist–Boone Jenner–Nick Foligno
Nathan Gerbe–Alexander Wennberg–Kevin Stenlund
Jakob Lilja–Riley Nash–Eric Robinson
Zach Werenski–Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov–David Savard
Scott Harrington–Markus Nutivaara
Elvis Merzlikins
