Bruins look to set tone of series, lineups against Capitals

For the first time since 2012, the Boston Bruins will be playing the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The result of the 2012 series was a B’s loss in seven games. Boston will like to avoid a game seven and down the Caps as quickly as possible.

With tonight being the first game of the series, a win is very important. Per Hockey Reference, the team that goes up 1-0 in a series has a historical winning percentage of 68.8. This means if the Black and Gold can win the first game of the series tonight, historically speaking, they have nearly a 70% chance of winning the series.

The B’s went 4-2-2 against the Caps this regular season, so I think they have a good chance of winning tonight. This is also considering that the Black and Gold are also basically 100% healthy for the first time since the season started and that Washington is banged up and also have a couple of players unavailable because of COVID-19 protocol.

Tonight will be an exciting, physical game that could go either way. However, I think the odds are in the B’s favor and we’ll see Boston come out victorious and take a 1-0 series lead.

Boston Bruins – Washington Capitals Game 1 projected lineups.

Boston Bruins (3rd seed)
Series tied 0-0

As I mentioned earlier, the B’s are basically completely healthy for the first time since the start of the season. However, they will be without right wing Ondrej Kase as he was pulled from his return against the Islanders in what was thought to be an upper-body injury. But it was revealed that he basically pulled himself out of the game because of poor conditioning.

Expect the Bruins’ lineup to look like this tonight:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Hall – Krejci – Smith
Ritchie – Kuraly – Coyle
DeBrusk – Lazar – Wagner

Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Reilly – Carlo
Lauzon – Miller

Rask (Swayman)

Washington Capitals (2nd seed)
Series tied 0-0

As previously mentioned, the Caps are a bit banged up right now. T.J. Oshie is banged up and is a game-time decision but will be centering the third line tonight if he can go. With Evgeny Kuznetsov in COVID-19 protocol, Lars Eller will move up and center the second line.

In net for the Capitals will most likely be Vitek Vanecek as Ilya Samsonov is unavailable because he is also in COVID-19 protocol. Veteran Craig Anderson will most likely be backing up Vanecek.

Expect the Capitals’ lineup to look like this tonight:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Mantha
Sheary – Eller – Raffl
Sprong – Oshie – Wilson
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway

Orlov – Carlson
Dillon – Schultz
Chara – Jensen

Vanecek (Anderson)

Where and when to watch Boston Bruins – Washington Capitals Game 1.

Time: 7:15 PM EST

Location: Capital One Arena

TV Broadcast: NBC, CBC, TVAS, SN

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

As previously mentioned, Game 1 of a Stanley Cup Playoff series is pretty important as the winner of Game 1 is ultimately the victor of the series nearly 70% of the time. The B’s need to come out tonight and set the tone for the series, winning Game 1.