It’s now or never for the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins are playing for their postseason lives starting Monday night in Game 5 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Boston, who trails the series 3-1 after a loss Saturday, will look to stave off elimination without a full roster.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said over the weekend the B’s will be without fourth-line winger Chris Wagner for Game 5. Additionally, Boston also might be without fourth-line forward Sean Kuraly (who also missed Games 3 and 4) as well as third-line winger Nick Ritchie, Cassidy said Monday afternoon on a video call with reporters.
According to Cassidy, the Bruins will know more following pregame skate.
Cassidy did, however, reveal what his lineup would look like if both Kuraly and Ritchie are out Monday night. Perhaps the most notable addition to the lineup would be Jack Studnicka, who would draw in on the third line with Anders Bjork and Charlie Coyle.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Bruins-Lightning Game 5, with Boston’s lines being under the assumption both Kuraly and Ritchie are out. That, obviously, is very subject to change.
Boston Bruins (1-3)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — Ondrej Kase
Anders Bjork — Charlie Coyle — Jack Studnicka
Joakim Nordstrom — Par Lindholm — Karson Kuhlman
Zdeno Chara — Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug — Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk — Connor Clifton
Jaroslav Halak
Tampa Bay Lightning (3-1)
Ondrej Palat — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Anthony Cirelli — Tyler Johnson
Barclay Goodrow — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Pat Maroon — Cedric Paquette
Victor Hedman — Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn — Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev — Erik Cernak
Luke Schenn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
