Bruins Game Day Report: With Chance To Sweep Hurricanes, Bruins All Business

The Boston Bruins met with the media following their optional game-day skate Thursday morning ahead of Game 4 (8 PM ET, NBCSN) of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The B’s have a chance to sweep the Canes and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in the last eight years. However, listening to the Bruins players today, you’d think tonight was just another game and that’s exactly the mindset the B’s believe got them to this point and will hopefully get them to the promised land and a Stanley Cup.

“There’s no rah-rah speeches here,” head coach Bruce Cassidy told the media in Raleigh. “We win a game, we advance. We lose, we go home and play Game 5. That’s pretty much where it’s at for us.”

Boston also knows that much like Game 3, Carolina will come out of the gate flying and banging bodies and they need to match that intensity much better than they did in the first period of Game 3 when they were outshot by the Canes 20-6 and once again bailed out by goalie Tuukka Rask. Factor in the difficulty of a potential series-clinching game and that makes a great start even more imperative.

“The fourth game is the hardest to win,” Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk pointed out. “They’re not going to down easy. They’re gonna do anything they can to get back in the series, and it starts tonight.”

Defenseman Brandon Carlo concurred.

“They’ve come out in all the games pretty hard in the first period,” Carlo said. “I can definitely notice the physicality they bring each and every night. They’re fighting for their lives tonight, and they want to bring a lot of energy, especially in this building. Hopefully, we can weather that storm better than we have, and match that energy.”

📸 Jake DeBrusk wearing his sweet hat to #NHLBruins morning avail before Game 4 #WBZ @JDebrusk #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/qtOU07QcEe

— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) May 16, 2019

Forward Noel Acciari will draw back into the Bruins lineup and replace Chris Wagner who was injured blocking a shot late in Game 3. Here’s how the B’s should look at puck drop tonight:

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Krejci-Backes

Johansson-Coyle-Heinen

Nordstrom-Kuraly-Acciari

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

Grzelcyk-Clifton

Rask