BRIGHTON, Mass. – The Boston Bruins host the Carolina Hurricanes at TD Garden on Tuesday with an opportunity to clinch the Atlantic Division title.
The Bruins will need a win of any kind against Carolina as well as a Toronto Maple Leafs loss to the New Jersey Devils and a Florida Panthers regulation loss to the Ottawa Senators to lock up the division. However, the only game Boston will be focused on is its own.
The two teams squared off at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Thursday, where Boston skated to a resounding 4-1 win. The Bruins scored three goals in the first 11 minutes to lock things up early.
“They’re a really good shot-volume team, and they shoot a lot of pucks, and we have to be really good in the neutral zone,” said Pavel Zacha, whose line with David Pastrnak and Danton Heinen delivered two goals in Thursday’s win.
Coming off their fourth win in a row – a 3-2 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers on Saturday – the Bruins are gaining momentum ahead of the postseason. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said he is rolling out the same lineup from the Florida win, which means Mason Lohrei and Kevin Shattenkirk will sit while the lines and pairs should look like this:
Danton Heinen - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Morgan Geekie
Jake DeBrusk - Jesper Boqvist - Trent Frederic
James van Riemsdyk - Johnny Beecher - Jakub Lauko
Hampus Lindholm - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon - Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Despite pondering the decision to break up the goalie rotation and use a starter two games in a row before the playoffs start, Montgomery is sticking to the 50/50 split and will start Jeremy Swayman on Tuesday.
“Physically and mentally, they don’t get overtaxed,” Montgomery said. “They know that when they’re going and they know that everybody on the team has incredible confidence in both of them.”
Five Things to Know About the Hurricanes:
- The Hurricanes are 12-3-1 since the NHL Trade Deadline on March 8. Key acquisition Jake Guentzel has 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) in 14 games, while Evgeny Kuznetsov has two goals and five assists in 16 games.
- Sebastian Aho leads the team with 87 points (35 goals, 52 assists) in 75 games this season.
- Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to start on Tuesday. He has a .910 save percentage and 2.37 goals against average.
- Carolina ranks in the top 10 for both scoring offense (3.35 goals per game; eighth) and scoring defense (2.56 goals allowed per game; third)
- The Hurricanes have the second-best power play in the NHL (27.1%) and best penalty kill (86.2%).
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