Boston Bruins
Game 5: Boston Bruins vs Anaheim Ducks Lines, Preview
Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Boston Bruins Game Day Preview:
Boston Bruins (3-1-0) vs Anaheim Ducks (1-3-0)
TIME: 7 P.M. ET, TD Garden
TV: NESN,
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
The Boston Bruins will welcome the Anaheim Ducks to TD Garden Thursday and try to bounce back from their first loss of the season after dropping a 7-5 game of pond hockey against the Senators in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is stressing team defense going forward and was still peeved Thursday morning over the loosey-goosey hockey his team has played too often to start the season.
“It does not get thrown away,” Montgomery told reporters when he was asked if he burned the tape from the loss. “We gave up seven even strength goals. It’s unacceptable. And the way we’ve been defending – I think our goalies have been really good or else…I don’t know if we win the first three games. We’re up 3-0, 3-2 in Washington, 3-1 against Arizona 3-3, and we let Florida climb back into the game twice. We need to take more pride in defending.”
Boston Bruins Notes
-Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk will make his season debut after missing the first four games. Grzelcyk is coming off offseason shoulder surgery and was expected to be out until early November but has been skating with the team for the last couple of weeks. The 28-year-old rearguard will play on the left side of the third defensive pairing with Jakub Zboril on the right.
-Center Jack Studnicka will also make his season debut on Thursday night. Studnicka, who was a healthy scratch for the first four games, will center the third line with Trent Frederic on the left and Charlie Coyle on the right.
-Craig Smith will be the odd-man out up front and a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Smith has no goals in four games and hasn’t lit the lamp since April 4 last season. Counting the seven-game playoff loss to the Hurricanes, the Bruins winger has gone 24 games without a goal.
-Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark will be back between the pipes tonight. After making 38 saves in the 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Monday, Ullmark came in for the third period Tuesday after Jeremy Swayman was pulled, and stopped five of six shots in the final frame. Ullmark is 2-0-0 with 2.58 GAA and .957 save percentage.
-Brandon Carlo (upper body) is still out with no timetable on his return after taking a hit and having his head slam hard into the glass in Saturday night’s win over the Coyotes.
Anaheim Ducks Notes
-The Anaheim Ducks come into this tilt with the Boston Bruins at 1-3-0 after blowing a two-goal lead and losing 4-2 to the Devils in New Jersey on Tuesday. This is the final game of a four-game roadie for the Ducks after they beat the Seattle Kraken 5-4 in overtime in their season opener.
-Through four games, Troy Terry leads the Ducks in goals and assists with three of each and in points with six. Trevor Zegras, Jakob Silfverberg and former Bruins winger Frank Vatrano each have two lamplighters.
-John Gibson will get the nod between the pipes tonight. Gibson is 1-2-0 with a 5.96 GAA and .872 save percentage.
Boston Bruins Lineup:
Forwards
Taylor Hall-Patrice Bergeron-Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Trent Frederic-Jack Studnicka-Charlie Coyle
Nick Foligno-Tomas Nosek-A.J. Greer
Defense:
Hampus Lindholm-Mike Reilly
Derek Forbort-Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelcyk-Jakub Zboril
Goalies:
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Anaheim Ducks Lineup:
Forwards:
Adam Henrique-Trevor Zegras-Troy Terry
Mason McTavish-Ryan Strome-Frank Vatrano
Maxime Comtois-Isac Lundestrom-Jakob Silfverberg
Max Jones-Derek Grant-Pavol Regenda
Defensemen:
Cam Fowler-Jamie Drysdale
Dmitry Kulikov-John Klingberg
Nathan Beaulieu-Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalies
John Gibson
Anthony Stolarz