Bruins vs Capitals 3/5/21: Rematch preview, lineups, and more

The Boston Bruins look to down the Washington Capitals after falling to the Caps on Wednesday in a shootout by a score of 2-1. This will be the fourth of eight meetings between these two teams this season.

Of the previous three matchups between Washington and Boston this season, the Caps currently have the edge on the B’s, winning two of the three showdowns.

Additionally, all three of the previous games between these two teams this season have not ended with a goal differential of more than two goals. The first game ended in a 4-3 loss for the Black and Gold, second was a 5-3 win, and Wednesday was a 2-1 shootout loss.

So, these two teams clearly bring out the best in each other and are clearly well-matched for one another, making it extremely frustrating to play against each other. Wednesday night was extremely physical and tight defensively, yet high-paced, I would expect the same thing tonight.

Boston Bruins vs Washington Capitals projected lineups.

Boston Bruins
Record: 12-5-3 (27 points)

The B’s look like they’ll be going with the same lineup as Wednesday night. Boston will still be without third line center Charlie Coyle as he’s still on the COVID-19 protocol list. The only change will be in goal, as Jaroslav Halak gets the nod over Tuukka Rask who played extremely well Wednesday night.

Expect the Bruins to lineup like this tonight:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – Smith
Frederic – Studnicka – DeBrusk
Bjork – Kuraly – Wagner

Zboril – McAvoy
Grzelcyk – Carlo
Tinordi – Clifton

Halak (Rask)

**UPDATE**

Center Charlie Coyle has been removed from the COVID-19 protocol list, so there is a chance he could play tonight.

These would be the Bruins’ forward lines if Coyle plays:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – DeBrusk
Frederic – Coyle – Smith
Kuraly – Studnicka – Wagner

Washington Capitals
Record: 13-5-4 (30 points)

Just like the B’s, the Caps will be going with the same lineup for tonight as they did Wednesday. The only change that may happen is Ilya Samsonov starting in net over Vitek Vanecek, however, as of right now, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Expect the Capitals to lineup like this tonight:

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Sheary
Vrana – Backstrom – Wilson
Panik – Eller – Oshie
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway

Dillon – Carlson
Orlov – Schultz
Chara – Jensen

Vanecek (Samsonov)

Where and when to watch Boston Bruins vs Washington Capitals.

Time: 7 PM EST

Location: TD Garden

TV Broadcast: NESN, NHL Network, TVAS, SN

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

As I mentioned earlier, last game between these two teams was a physical one. With some bad blood between Trent Frederic and Alex Ovechkin, I expect the physicality from Wednesday to carry into tonight.