The Boston Bruins should be skating at full throttle Tuesday when they renew hostilities with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy expects to have a fully healthy lineup at his disposal for Tuesday’s matchup. He told reporters Patrice Bergeron will center Boston’s top line, despite missing practice Monday due to a “maintenance day.”
The lineup helped Boston end its three-game homestand with a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. The victory was the Bruins’ seventh in the nine games they’ve played since late last month when Cassidy reconfigured the forward lines and defensive pairings.
The Bruins will make one change, as Linus Ullmark starts at goaltender, replacing Jeremy Swayman.
This Boston-Chicago matchup is their second in six days and this season’s final tilt between the teams. Boston beat Chicago 4-3 on Thursday at TD Garden in their last meeting.
The contest also marks Nick Foligno’s 1,000th career NHL game. Kudos to the Bruins left wing.
NESN will air Bruins versus Blackhawks in full, with pregame coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Puck drop from United Center is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Bruins-Blackhawks:
BOSTON BRUINS (36-18-5)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Hall–Erik Haula–David Pastrnak
Trent Frederic–Charlie Coyle–Craig Smith
Nick Foligno–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar
Mike Reilly — Charlie McAvoy
Jack Ahcan — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (22-30-8)
Alex Debrincat–Dylan Strome–Patrick Kane
Brandon Hagel–Jonathan Toews–Kirby Dach
Dominik Kubalik–Ryan Carpenter–Sam Lafferty
Henrik Borgstrom–Philipp Kurashev–Mackenzie Entwistle
Calvin De Haan–Seth Jones
Caleb Jones–Jake McCabe
Riley Stillman–Erik Gustafsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
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