Bruins Vs. Panthers Game 4: Projected Lines, Defensive Pairings

The Bruins and the Panthers will meet at TD Garden on Sunday night for Game 4 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Boston will be without one of its most important players when it tries to even up the best-of-seven set. Brad Marchand will not play due to an upper-body injury sustained from a Sam Bennett hit Friday night. Jim Montgomery did not get into specifics about Marchand’s injury Sunday morning and labeled the captain as “day to day.”

The most likely option to replace Marchand is the return of Danton Heinen. Heinen hasn’t played since Game 5 in Round 1, but Montgomery confirmed the veteran forward was available for Sunday night’s contest. However, the Bruins head coach didn’t rule out playing with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Game 4.

Montgomery also didn’t reveal his goaltender for Boston’s all-important tilt, but The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont “speculated” Jeremay Swayman will stay in net for the Black and Gold.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Bruins-Panthers Game 4:

BRUINS (1-2)
Jake DeBrusk — Morgan Geekie — David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
James van Riemsdyk — Pavel Zacha — Justin Brazeau
Jakub Lauko — John Beecher — Pat Maroon

Mason Lohrei — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Andrew Peeke

Jeremy Swayman

PANTHERS (2-1)
Vladimir Tarasenko — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Evan Rodrigues
Steven Lorentz — Kevin Stenlund — Kyle Okposo

Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Dmitry Kulikov

Sergei Bobrovsky