Bruins Game 56; Stadium Series: Notes, Lines, and How to Watch vs. Lightning

It is a Boston Bruins (32-20-3) gameday, and the Bruins are in Tampa for the 2026 NHL Stadium Series. 

The team finished January with an 11-2-1 record, good for 23 points. Tampa Bay (34-14-4) was the only team with a better mark in the month, going 11-1-1 and also tallying 23 points.  

On the NHL website, it says it’s a neutral-site game, but there were plenty of black and gold sweatshirts and jackets on the flight from Boston to Tampa yesterday, and plenty of Bruins media members said the same about their flights on Friday.

The forecast is calling for 42-degree temperatures at puckdrop.

Bruins Morning Skate Notes

The Bruins held a practice at Raymond James Stadium (under the tent) on Saturday afternoon. They were without Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha, and as Marco Sturm mentioned, Marat Khusnutdinov slotted into the first-line center role.  

After the practice, Charlie McAvoy spoke on the ice conditions:

“It’s definitely pretty patchy. It’s real soft. We’ll see what they can do between tonight and tomorrow. Obviously, we get it after (Tampa Bay) practiced on it. I don’t know how many people have skated on it before, but yeah, it’s not great. I’m sure that they have a plan in place to make it as good as they can make it.”

Matt Poitras will play in his 68th career game, his second of the season, and he is expected to center the third line with Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic on his wings. 

“Those two guys are great veterans, great leaders,” Sturm said about the line combination. “And they will take care of him. Even last game, I just wanted him to feel comfortable with some young guys.”

Although the Bruins are down their top two centers, Marco Sturm said they are not undergoing any changes to their structure. 

“It’s tough to replace them,” Sturm said. “Having said that, we had injuries this season before, and we are going to overcome this one the same way, and we are going to handle it the same way we did in the past. I think our system, our structure, is going to save us a little bit.”

Expected Bruins Lines

Forwards

Morgan Geekie – Marat Khusnutdinov – David Pastrnak

Casey Mittelstadt – Fraser Minten – Viktor Arvidsson

Tanner Jeannot – Matt Poitras – Mark Kastelic

Mikey Eyssimont – Sean Kuraly – Alex Steeves

Defensemen

Jonathan Aspirot – Charlie McAvoy

Nikita Zadorov – Andrew Peeke

Hampus Lindholm – Mason Lohrei

Source: Belle Fraser (Boston Bruins)

Starting Goalie

Jeremy Swayman (22-12-2, 2.87 GAA, .904 SV%)

Source: Expected

Expected Lightning Lines

Forwards

Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nikita Kucherov

Jake Guentzel – Dominic James – Gage Goncalves

Zegmus Girgensons – Yanni Gourde – Pontus Holmberg

Oliver Bjorkstrand – Jack Finley – Nick Paul

Defensemen

JJ Moser – Darren Raddysh

Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak

Declan Carlile – Max Crozier

Source: Benjamin Pierce (Tampa Bay Lightning)

*Victor Hedman skated on the fourth defensive pair. Per Pierce, Jon Cooper expects Hedman to play in this game. 

Starting Goalie

Andrei Vasilevskiy (24-7-3, 2.04 GAA, .921 SV%)

Source: Expected

Special Teams

The Bruins have the NHL’s fourth-best power play (26.8%). In January, they had the league’s second-best number (33.3%). The Bruins’ penalty kill has fallen to 25th (77.6%), and their penalty kill suffered in January (68.6%). 

On the other hand, the Lightning’s power play ranks 14th (21.3%). However, the Lightning were the only team ranked ahead of the Bruins in January (35.3%). The Bolts also have an 84.6% penalty kill, which is the league’s second-best unit. 

Season Series

Monday, October 13: @ BOS – Lightning win 6-4

Sunday, February 1: Bruins @ Lightning

Saturday, April 4: Bruins @ Lightning

Saturday, April 11: Lightning @ Bruins 

Upcoming Schedule

Wednesday, February 4: Bruins @ Panthers, 7:00 PM

Olympic Break, February 6-24

Thursday, February 26: Blue Jackets @ Bruins, 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 28: Bruins @ Flyers, 3:00 PM

Tuesday, March 3: Penguins @ Bruins, 7:00 PM

Thursday, March 5: Bruins @ Predators, 8:00 PM

How To Watch

6:30 PM ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub