BOSTON — The Bruins look to continue their strong homestand when they welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to TD Garden on Saturday for some matinee hockey.
Boston has won its last five games, including a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has lost three in a row including a 7-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The Bruins’ lines will look a little different than Thursday as head coach Jim Montgomery continues to shuffle his defensemen. Jakub Zboril will sit with Brandon Carlo returning to the lineup. Up front, Jakub Lauko will play on the fourth line in place of A.J. Greer, who was suspended one game by the NHL for his cross-check to Mike Hoffman.
The Bruins can clinch the Atlantic Division with a win for the first time since the 2018-19 season. David Pastrnak also is one goal away from 50 — something that hasn’t been done since Cam Neely reached the milestone during the 1993-94 season.
Linus Ullmark is expected to get the start opposite of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Puck drop for B’s-Bolts is set for 1 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action beginning at 12 p.m. on NESN.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (55-11-5)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Tyler Bertuzzi–Charlie Coyle–Trent Frederic
Jakub Lauko–Tomas Nosek–Garnet Hathaway
Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm–Brandon Carlo
Dmitry Orlov–Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (42-25-6)
Brandon Hagel–Brayden Point–Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn–Anthony Cirelli–Steven Stamkos
Ross Colton–Nick Paul–Pat Maroon
Tanner Jeannot–Michael Eyssimont–Corey Perry
Victor Hedman–Nick Perbix
Mikhail Sergachev–Erik Cernak
Ian Cole–Zach Bogosian
Andrei Vasilevskiy
