It’s been an eventful 24 hours for the Boston Bruins.
Brad Marchand was suspended three games for his slew-foot against Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the win over the Vancouver Canucks. Jake DeBrusk requested a trade from the team after being a healthy scratch And now, Bruce Cassidy has been placed in COVID protocols.
And the Bruins have a game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings.
It’s a lot going on in Boston right now as the Bruins are dealing with all the news and are looking to improve upon the Canucks game where they squeezed out a win.
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
TV: NESN
Stream: ESPN+
"Bruins projected lineHall-Bergeron-PastrnakFoligno-Coyle-SmithNosek-Frederic-KuhlmanDeBrusk-Haula-Lazar Forbort-McAvoyGrzelcyk-CarloReilly-Zboril UllmarkSwayman"
"Red Wings projected linesBertuzzi-Larkin-RaymondFabbri-Suter-SmithNamestnikov-Rasmussen-ErneGagner-Rowney-Zadina Leddy-SeiderStaal-LindstromRenouf-Oesterle NedelkjovicGreiss"
Tons of changes to the Bruins lineup. For the first time all season, the Bruins won’t start with 63, 37 and 88 together. With Marchand out, Taylor Hall fills in on the top line and Nick Foligno gets some time on the left wing of the second line.
Both Erik Haula and DeBrusk are back in the lineup. Despite the trade request, DeBrusk is expected to play for the Bruins, which is good for both sides. DeBrusk stays fresh and in shape, while the Bruins could benefit if DeBrusk starts to produce and could improve his trade value.
Interesting to see Linus Ullmark gets another start. He was a bit shaky in the Vancouver game, but did make a couple of timely saves. I would say up to now, Jeremy Swayman has been the better goalie, but Ullmark gets the nod for a second-straight game.
With Cassidy out, Joe Sacco will take over duties on the bench as the head guy.
Boston will get its first look at Dylan Larkin this season. He was out the last time these two met earlier this month, when Bergeron popped in four goals in the 5-1 win. The Detroit captain has 19 points in 18 games this season and certainly will be difference-maker tonight.
Along with Larkin, look out for his linemate Lucas Raymond. The rookie has 21 points in 22 games. He’s the leader for the Calder Trophy and has been a big reason for the early success of the Red Wings.
Lot of things working against the Bruins right now, but no excuses. They need to get these wins, especially against divisional opponents. Detroit has a small two-game win streak going and while they don’t look as strong as earlier in the season, they’re not an easy out.