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

The Bruins once again will have to win a playoff game without their captain when they look to take a 2-0 series lead Wednesday night against the Panthers.

Boston wasted no time ruling out Patrice Bergeron, as head coach Jim Montgomery broke the news Wednesday morning following the team’s morning skate. Montgomery said Bergeron is dealing with an injury, not an illness, and didn’t provide a whole lot more detail.

Montgomery on Tuesday said Bergeron was feeling better, and the center did skate Wednesday morning ahead of the full-team workout. Those seem like encouraging steps in the right direction for Bergeron, but it obviously isn’t quite enough to get him back on the ice for game action.

“He’s progressing well, so he’s day-by-day, but he’s a no for (Wednesday night),” Montgomery told reporters.

As such, the Bruins lineup will remain the same as they used in their 3-1 Game 1 win over Florida. Pavel Zacha will assume the first-line center role vacated by Bergeron, as he did with success in the series opener. There’s no mystery over the goaltending situation, either, with Montgomery going back to Linus Ullmark between the pipes following a sterling performance in Game 1.

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The Panthers, meanwhile, are making changes, head coach Paul Maurice confirmed. Sam Bennett draws back into the lineup for the Panthers, likely centering the second line. Bennett hasn’t played in a month, dealing with a lower-body injury. Maurice also will go back to Alex Lyon in net, which isn’t entirely surprising after the coach gave the goalie an “A+” for his Game 1 performance.

Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Bruins-Panthers Game 2.

BOSTON BRUINS (1-0)
Brad Marchand — Pavel Zacha — Jake DeBrusk
David Pastrank — David Krejci — Tyler Bertuzzi
Taylor Hall — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno — Tomas Nosek — Garnet Hathaway

Dmitry Orlov — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Connor Clifton

Linus Ullmark

FLORIDA PANTHERS (0-1)
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Anthony Duclair
Eetu Luostarinen — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Nick Cousins — Eric Staal — Colin White

Gustav Forling — Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal — Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura — Radko Gudas

Alex Lyon