Next man up? More like next men up for the Boston Bruins.
For myriad reasons, the Bruins will be piecing their lineup together Thursday night when they host the Carolina Hurricanes, an elite team that has given Boston a hard time this season.
The Bruins lost two players in Tuesday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Patrice Bergeron was injured on a collision with Sidney Crosby, while Brad Marchand took a swing at Tristan Jarry and got himself suspended for six games.
That means the Bruins will be down two members of their top line against the Canes. The Taylor Hall-Erik Haula-David Pastrnak trio will become the de facto first line, while the Anton Blidh-Tomas Nosek-Curtis Lazar fourth line will be reunited.
Charlie Coyle will stay with Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith, and they'll effectively become the second line. Jack Studnicka was called up with Bergeron hurt, so he'll center a now-healthy Trent Frederic and Nick Foligno. Oskar Steen will be healthy scratched by the Bruins.
The Hurricanes will be without Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is in the COVID-19 protocol. Linus Ullmark and Frederik Andersen are the expected goalies.
Here are the projected lineups for the Bruins and the Hurricanes.
BOSTON BRUINS (26-15-3)
Taylor Hall--Erik Haula--David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk--Charlie Coyle--Craig Smith
Trent Frederic--Jack Studnicka--Nick Foligno
Anton Blidh--Tomas Nosek--Curtis Lazar
Matt Grzelcyk--Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly--Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort--Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
CAROLINA HURRICANES (31-10-3)
Andrei Svechnikov--Sebastian Aho--Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook--Vincent Trocheck--Seth Jarvis
Nino Niederreiter--Jordan Staal--Jesper Fast
Steven Lorentz--Derek Stepan--Josh Leivo
Jaccob Slavin--Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei--Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith--Ethan Bear
Frederik Andersen
