Bruins at Devils: Game preview, lineups, and more
By Matt Hawkins
The Boston Bruins start their 2021 season at the Prudential Center against the New Jersey Devils.
Boston Bruins hockey is finally back! For the first time since their disappointing exit from the Toronto Bubble at the end of August due to the current Stanley Cup Champs, Tampa Bay Lightning, the B’s will take the ice. For their first game, the Black and Gold will be on the road against the New Jersey Devils starting at 7 PM EST.
For Boston, they’re basically the same team as last season, with a few major changes, however. The Bruins lost both defenseman Torey Krug, and defenseman and former longtime captain Zdeno Chara in free agency. Krug went to the St. Louis Blues on a massive seven-year, $45.5 million deal, while Chara signed with the Washington Capitals on a one-year worth up to $1,525,000.
However, the B’s were able to bring in depth scoring for their forward core with right wing Craig Smith on a team-friendly three-year, $9.3 million deal. Along with this, general manager Don Sweeney also extended defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a four-year, $14.75 million deal and left wing Jake DeBrusk to a two-year, $7.35 million extension.
Along with Krug and Chara being gone, two thirds of Boston’s “perfection line” are injured, as David Pastrnak still has about a month before he’ll be back from offseason labrum and hip procedures, and Brad Marchand is now a game-time decision as he tries to return from offseason sports hernia surgery. On top of these injuries, Smith is also a game-time decision tonight with a lower-body injury and Karson Kuhlman is still unfit to play due to COVID-19 protocols.
With this, the Bruins will be highly relying on their second line of DeBrusk, David Krejci, and Ondrej Kase to score, rookie Jack Studnicka and young winger Anders Bjork to step up on the first line centered by Patrice Bergeron, and defensemen Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy to make up for the loss of Krug on the power play.
Like the B’s, the Devils have made some big changes on the left side of their defense. Last year, they had Mirco Mueller, Dakota Mermis, and Connor Carick, this year they have Ryan Murray, Dmitry Kulikov, Ty Smith, and Will Butcher. This is a huge improvement from last year.
Offensively, the Devils are practically the same except for some depth piece changes. However, they’re also dealing with some injuries and absences. New Jersey will be without center Nico Hischier due to injury, and winger Jesper Bratt and defenseman Sami Vatanen as they await their arrivals and for them to quarantine.