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

The last time the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning met, it was one of the most exciting regular season games this NHL season.

Let’s hope we get much of the same Wednesday.

The Atlantic Division rivals are set to meet at Scotiabank Arena in both sides’ second game of the Eastern Conference round robin tournament. Boston is 0-1-0 after losing to the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Bolts are 1-0-0 thanks to a win over the Washington Capitals.

As for the lineups, Boston is shaking things up a bit in the middle six as it welcomes the return of Nick Ritchie. The winger, who Boston scooped up at the trade deadline, is expected to play on the second line left wing, with Karson Kuhlman skating on the right. David Krejci, of course, will center that duo.

Charlie Coyle will be flanked by Anders Bjork on the left and Jake DeBrusk on the right. No changes are expected to the Bruins’ first or fourth lines, nor at the blue line.

Tuukka Rask will be in net for the Bruins after missing Sunday’s game because he had to quarantine. Tampa likely will send out Andrei Vasilevskiy.

BOSTON BRUINS (0-1-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Nick Ritchie–David Krejci–Karson Kuhlman
Anders Bjork–Charlie Coyle–Jake DeBrusk
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner

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

Tuukka Rask

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (1-0-0)
Ondrej Palat–Brayden Point–Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn–Anthony Cirelli–Tyler Johnson
Barclay Goodrow–Yanni Gourde–Blake Coleman
Patrick Maroon–Mitchell Stephens–Cedric Paquette

Victor Hedman–Zach Bogosian
Ryan McDonagh–Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev–Kevin Shattenkirk

Andrei Vasilevskiy

NHL Eastern Conference Round-Robin Primer: What To Know About All Four Teams