Game 76: Boston Bruins @ St. Louis Blues Lines, Preview

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Boston Bruins Game Day Preview:

Boston Bruins (46-23-5, 97 pts) vs St. Louis Blues (46-20-10, 102 pts)

TIME: 8:00 PM ET

TV: ESPN+, Hulu

The Boston Bruins will try to build on Saturday’s afternoon win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, an important victory that snapped a three-game losing streak for the Black and Gold. The middle game of that losing streak was a 4-2 loss to the Blues on the TD Garden ice where Torey Krug had a field day in his first game on his old home ice with a power play goal as well as a great play that set up one of Vladimir Tarasenko’s late game goals.

Tarasenko scored two goals in a game that was rife with Boston Bruins puck mismanagement, and Patrice Bergeron and Marc McLaughlin scored goals for the Bruins in the defeat. With the Bruins having clinched a playoff spot with last Saturday’s win over the Penguins, they are now moving toward preparing for the postseason.

“We’ve challenged [the players] a lot more in last 2 weeks than maybe we did in the last 3 months, and kind of pushed them,” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “The messaging now is its going to be a grind, so you need to be prepared to start building those habits because we know what we’re up against.”

Jeremy Swayman (21-12-3, 2.34 goals against average and .917 save percentage) will get the starting nod for the Boston Bruins, and Troy Grosenick will serve as the backup with Linus Ullmark not on the trip due to an upper body injury.

Boston Bruins Notes

–David Pastrnak will miss his seventh game for the Boston Bruins, who are 0-for-25 on the PP and have averaged 2.13 goals per game in his absence. It’s pretty clear at this point that they miss his willingness to shoot the puck on the power play and have gone through several players in his right wing spot, including tonight’s appearance by Curtis Lazar.

-In addition to Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm (upper body), Linus Ullmark (upper body) and Jesper Froden did not make the two-game road trip through St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Pastrnak and Lindholm have been skating on their own but have not practiced with the team as of yet.

-Trent Frederic will be playing in his first game in his native city of St. Louis after suiting up against the Blues last week in a game that featured him taking a bad roughing penalty after he got into it with Vladimir Tarasenko. Frederic was scratched in the ensuing game but returned with a goal-scoring early shift in the win over the Penguins.

St. Louis Blues Notes

-Blues forward Robert Thomas is red-hot right now with a 13-game point streak for the Blues that’s the longest active point streak in the NHL.

– Tyler Bozak (lower body) is getting close to a return for the Blues but isn’t available yet, and Alexei Topochenko (lower-body) is also still out. Blues head coach Craig Berube said both players would join the team on their upcoming four-game road trip out West.

–Nick Leddy missed a game over the weekend with a cut under his eye but will return to the lineup for the Blues against the Bruins on Tuesday night.

Boston Bruins Lineup:

Forwards

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron– Jake DeBrusk

Taylor Hall – Erik Haula – Curtis Lazar

Trent Frederic  – Charlie Coyle – Craig Smith

Nick Foligno – Tomas Nosek – Marc McLaughlin

Defense:

Mike Reilly – Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Jeremy Swayman

St. Louis Blues Lineup:

Forwards:

Brandon Saad–Ryan O’Reilly–David Perron
Pavel Buchnevich–Robert Thomas–Vladimir Tarasenko
Ivan Barbashev–Brayden Schenn–Jordan Kyrou
Dakota Joshua–Logan Brown–Nathan Walker

Defensemen:

Marco Scandella–Colton Parayko
Nick Leddy–Justin Faulk
Torey Krug–Robert Bortuzzo

Goalies

Ville Husso