Game 33: Boston Bruins Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Lines, Preview

The fourth-place Boston Bruins (18-10-5, 41 pts) will try to bounce back against the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins (24-11-2, 50 pts) in the second game of a two-game set (Saturday 1 PM ET) against Sidney Crosby and the Pens at TD Garden. The Bruins fell by a 4-1 score against the Penguins on Thursday night when an offensive no-show combined with some key turnovers conspired against the Black and Gold.

The Boston will certainly need more than just the veteran leadership core to step up and capitalize on a depleted Penguins team up the middle, but at the very least they need their best players to begin getting back to the top of their game. Bruce Cassidy was “disappointed” rather than “frustrated” by the effort from his Bruins players on Thursday night when almost nobody played well for the Black and Gold against a Penguins hockey club playing at a high level right now.

“I’m not frustrated with those guys. I’m disappointed that they don’t recognize the value of the puck and where we are in the game. We’ve had games like this where we just don’t respect the process, and don’t respect taking care of the puck. And good offensive teams kind of shove it right up [on us] and that’s what happened,” said Bruce Cassidy. “It was a lot of was our top guys tonight. Our younger guys are learning the ropes, but we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the puck.”

Jaroslav Halak (8-5-3, 2.27 goals against average and .916 save percentage) will be getting the start for the Boston Bruins while Casey DeSmith (9-3-0, 1.84 goals against average and .933 save percentage) will look to make it two wins in a row against Boston.

Bruins Notes

–Sean Kuraly is expected to draw back into the lineup for the Boston Bruins after missing the last couple of weeks in the NHL’s COVID Protocol.

–David Pastrnak is in the middle of a rare slump where he’s got one point in his last five games and made a horrendous turnover in the third period of Thursday night’s loss that essentially iced the game for the Penguins. Pastrnak has been moved around the lineup in the last couple of games as Bruce Cassidy looks to spark his game-breaker, and will start Saturday afternoon’s game on the second line with David Krejci.

–Brandon Carlo has been downgraded from day-to-day to week-to-week with his upper body injury and isn’t expected to return to game action for the Boston Bruins anytime soon. Carlo had just returned from a month-long absence due to a concussion suffered after a Tom Wilson headshot and the fear is that his current upper body injury is in some way connected to that injury.

–A struggling Jeremy Lauzon was made a healthy scratch by the Boston Bruins after a rough couple of games moving the puck, and big-bodied veteran Jarred Tinordi is in against the Penguins.

Penguins Notes

— The current five-game winning streak for the Pittsburgh Penguins is the longest active win streak in the NHL. With a win today, Pittsburgh can equal its season-long six-game win streak from early March as they rocket up the East Division standings

Boston Bruins Lines

Forwards:

Brad Marchand- Patrice Bergeron- Craig Smith

Nick Ritchie- David Krejci- David Pastrnak

Anders Bjork- Sean Kuraly- Charlie Coyle

Trent Frederic- Jack Studnicka- Zach Senyshyn

Defense:

Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy

Jarred Tinordi – Connor Clifton

Jakub Zboril – Steven Kampfer

Goalies:

Jaro Halak

Dan Vladar

Pittsburgh Penguins Lines

Forwards:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust

Zucker-McCann-Rodrigues

Aston-Reese-Gaudreau-Tanev

Lafferty-Jankowski-Angello

Defense:

Dumoulin-Letang

Matheson-Ceci

Petterson-Marino

Goalies:

DeSmith

Lagace