Bruins at Penguins 3/15/21: Start of road trip, lineups, and more

The Boston Bruins kickoff their four-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Penguins in what will be the third matchup between the two teams this season.

So far this season, the B’s have gotten the best of the Pens, winning both previous matchups against them by scores of 3-2 and 4-1. However, these games occurred at the beginning of the season and many things have changed since then.

Going into tonight, the Black and Gold are in a bit of a slump, as they can’t seem to win consecutive games and are 4-4-2 in their last 10. They were just shutout by the New York Rangers 4-0 after shutting the Rangers out by the same score the game prior. The story for Boston lately has been inconsistent play from game to game.

The Penguins, on the other hand, have been red-hot and have now won five straight games. They are 7-3-0 in their last 10 and are coming off a 3-0 shutout against the last place Buffalo Sabres.

With how Pittsburgh has been playing as of late, the B’s will have to give the type of effort they gave in the first game against the Rangers last week to win tonight.

Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins projected lineups.

Boston Bruins
Record: 14-7-4 (32 points)

After being shutout against the Rangers, head coach Bruce Cassidy has decided to make several changes to the B’s lineup. Rookies Jack Studnicka (F) and Urho Vaakanainen (D) will be healthy scratches tonight. Right wing Chris Wagner will also be a healthy scratch.

In their places will be Steve Kampfer (D), Karson Kuhlman (RW), and Jake DeBrusk (LW).

Kampfer has been on the team’s taxi squad for most of the season but will see the lineup tonight playing alongside Jarred Tinordi on the third pairing. DeBrusk will be back in the lineup after being forced to miss last game due to a false positive COVID-19 result, he’ll be on the second line with Nick Ritchie moving down to the third. And Kuhlman will be on the fourth line after playing in Providence the last couple of weeks.

Jaroslav Halak will get his fourth straight start with Tuukka Rask still banged up. Rask has started skating with the team, but it’s still unknown when he’ll be back in the lineup. Dan Vladar will be backing up Halak tonight. Either Vladar or Jeremy Swayman will start tomorrow.

Expect the Bruins to look like this tonight:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Smith
Ritchie – Coyle – Bjork
Frederic – Kuraly – Kuhlman

Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Zboril – Clifton
Tinordi – Kampfer

Halak (Vladar)

Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 17-9-1 (35 points)

The Penguins are relatively healthy compared to the B’s. They’ll be without Jason Zucker, Mark Friedman, Jared McCann, and John Marino tonight.

Expect the Penguins to look like this tonight:

Guentzel – Crosby – Rust
Rodrigues – Malkin – Kapanen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – Tanev
Sceviour – Jankowski – Angello

Dumoulin – Letang
Matheson – Ceci
Pettersson – Ruhwedel

Jarry (DeSmith)

Where and when to watch Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins.

Time: 7 PM EST

Location: PPG Paints Arena

TV Broadcast: NESN, ATTSN-PT, SNE, SNO, NHLTV Free Game

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

As I said earlier, the Pens are red-hot right now. The Bruins will have to play one of their best games of the season to take down Pittsburgh tonight.