Berkshire Bank Hockey Night In New England: Projected Bruins-Hurricanes Lines, Pairings

Let’s try this again.

The Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes were set to play Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday. That was the plan, however, before a Columbus Blue Jackets-Tampa Bay Lightning marathon that concluded mercifully in the fifth overtime thanks to Brayden Point.

So now it’ll be a matinee series opener between the B’s and Canes, with the puck set to drop at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The game can be seen on NESN, with pregame coverage beginning at 10 a.m.

Assuming nothing has changed, the Bruins will roll out pretty much the same lines and pairings from Sunday’s round-robin finale against the Washington Capitals. The only change would be Matt Grzelcyk drawing back into the lineup, with Connor Clifton being a healthy scratch.

Bruins Vs. Hurricanes Playoff Preview: Analysis, Predictions, X Factors

Dougie Hamilton likely will be back for the Hurricanes, meaning he’ll be playing in his first game since mid-January. If he plays, Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin should form Carolina’s top pairing.

Tuukka Rask will be in net for the Bruins, while Carolina has yet to announce its starter.

BOSTON BRUINS (0-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Ondrej Kase
Nick Ritchie–Charlie Coyle–Anders Bjork
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner

Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk–Jeremy Lauzon

Tuukka Rask

CAROLINA HURRICANES (0-0)
Andrei Svechnikov–Sebastian Aho–Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter–Vincent Trocheck–Martin Necas
Warren Foegele–Jordan Staal–Justin Williams
Brock McGinn–Morgan Geekie–Jordan Martinook

Jaccob Slavin–Dougie Hamilton
Brady Skjei–Joel Edmundson
Jake Gardiner–Sami Vatanen

Petr Mrazek

Round-Robin Debrief; Hurricanes Series Preview | NESN Bruins Podcast Ep. 77