The Boston Bruins kick off a four-game road trip tonight in Sunrise, Florida, where they visit the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers couldn't be more of a shell of themselves than they are at this point in the season. The Panthers could be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs as early as tonight.
Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, and Dmitry Kulikov are six lineup regulars all out with injuries.
Former Bruins captain Brad Marchand is one of the fallen, ruled out for the rest of the regular season with an injury.
Former Bruin AJ Greer, a career fourth-line guy, is on Florida's second line tonight.
Essentially, the lineup is Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and everyone else.
The Bruins, if they play their game, should be able to roll this Panthers team.
Boston's riding a four-game winning streak, with a playoff spot virtually locked up, but unable to officially clinch tonight.
With the good vibes rolling, Boston's not making any major lineup changes, with the only change from Tuesday's victory being the goaltender.
Jeremy Swayman returns to the crease, set to start against the Panthers (per Jim McBride).
Mason Lohrei remains sidelined with an injury, though even if healthy, it'd be hard to take Henri Jokiharju out of the lineup after his past two games.
Expected Bruins Lines:
Forwards:
Marat Khusnutdinov - Fraser Minten - David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt - Pavel Zacha - Viktor Arvidsson
Lukas Reichel - Elias Lindholm - Morgan Geekie
Tanner Jeannot - Sean Kuraly - Mark Kastelic
Defense & Starting Goalie:
Jonathan Aspirot - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Henri Jokiharju
Nikita Zadorov - Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman