The Bruins continue their tough stretch of a schedule Tuesday night when they welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to town.
Boston looks to extend its home winning streak to start the season after making history at TD Garden in a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Black Friday. The Bolts, meanwhile, have won their last two games with their latest loss coming against the Bruins on Nov. 21.
The Bruins will get some reinforcement back into the lineup with Derek Forbort returning from long-term injured reserve after breaking his finger Nov. 1. The penalty kill has struggled mightily without Forbort’s presence and will be a welcomed addition. Trent Frederic also will return from an upper-body injury. Craig Smith remains out with an upper-body injury of his own.
Head coach Jim Montgomery was tight-lipped about which goalie would start despite Linus Ullmark getting injured in Friday’s win.
“I’m leaning one way,” Montgomery told reporters after Tuesday’s Bruins practice. “I don’t want to help Tampa Bay’s power play figure out which one.”
Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET and you can catch all the action beginning at 6 p.m. on NESN.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (18-3-0)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno — Tomas Nosek — A.J. Greer
Hampus Lindholm — Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk–Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort–Connor Clifton
Jeremy Swayman
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (13-7-1)
Brandon Hagel–Brayden Point–Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos–Nick Paul–Alex Killorn
Cal Foote–Vladislav Namestnikov – Corey Perry
Cole Koepke–Ross Colton–Pat Maroon
Victor Hedman–Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev–Nick Perbix
Ian Cole–Zach Bogosian
Andrei Vasilevskiy
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