The Boston Bruins face the Toronto Maple Leafs a month after their first matchup of the season. Below are line projections and thoughts from Jim Montgomery, Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand
After getting back on track with a 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Boston Bruins will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
Despite the top six forward lines contributing the two even-strength goals in the win, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery opted to tweak the lines during Friday’s practice ahead of Saturday’s matchup, and this is what the lineup is expected to look like against Toronto:
Jake DeBrusk - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Danton Heinen
James van Riemsdyk - Matthew Poitras - Trent Frederic
Jakub Lauko - Morgan Geekie - Oskar Steen
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Kevin Shattenkirk
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
The biggest change is swapping Coyle and Poitras, breaking up the red-hot van Riemsdyk-Coyle-Frederic line in the process. Facing a team with as much firepower up top as the Maple Leafs, Montgomery cited the change as being ‘matchup-based’ rather than any internal reason.
“It’s also I want to see what it looks like. We were doing a couple of drills when there was line rushes, so I want to see the chemistry,” Montgomery said on Friday. “I haven’t tried Poitras with van Riemsdyk, so I want to see what that would look like, and I haven’t seen Heinen go with Coyle and ‘Marchy.’”
Coyle said he’s excited to play with both Marchand and Heinen. He started the year on a line with Marchand, but is excited for the new combination alongside Heinen, who has scored six points (three goals, three assists) in his past eight games.
“I think [Heinen]’s been so great for us,” Coyle told The Hockey News on Friday. “It’s great to see him rewarded every now and then, but even when he’s not, he’s playing just the right way. And that’s why he’s a guy. People say he’s a Swiss Army Knife; he can play up and down the lineup, he kind of can play every role and he’s so useful to have.”
The other change is Johnny Beecher drawing out of the lineup for Oskar Steen. Beecher scored a garbage-time goal in Monday’s 5-2 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and his face-off percentage has been dominant each of the past three games (61.5%, 75%, 80%, respectively), but Montgomery said he wants to see more from the 22-year-old center.
“We don’t feel like he’s been on top of his game like he was for several of the first 22 games, and we just want him to watch and learn and grow, and get ready to go back in,” Montgomery said on Saturday.
The Bruins last faced the Maple Leafs at home on Nov. 2, prevailing in a 3-2 shootout win. Marchand said he expects an equally close matchup on Saturday with their Atlantic Division rival.
“Seems like there’s always a good rivalry with this team, usually that stems from playing each other in the playoffs a few times,” Marchand said on Saturday. “Both teams have been very good for a while, so it’s always a fun game to play.”
The Bruins and their tweaked lineup will look to build off the momentum from Thursday’s win at 7 p.m.
Five Things to Know About the Maple Leafs
- The Maple Leafs sit third in the Atlantic Division, six points behind the Bruins and three behind the Florida Panthers
- Joseph Woll will start for Toronto after Ilya Samsonov started in the Nov. 2 matchup. Woll is 8-5-0 with a .917 save percentage and 2.74 goals against average this season. Martin Jones will back up Woll with Samsonov out with an illness.
- The Maple Leafs have four players with 20+ points this season: William Nylander (28), Auston Matthews (23), Mitch Marner (23) and John Tavares (20). The Bruins, comparatively, only have one (David Pastrnak - 33).
- Defenseman Timothy Liljegren (lower body) has not played since he was injured on a hit by Brad Marchand on Nov. 2.
- In their past five games, the Maple Leafs penalty kill is a perfect 16-for-16. However, their power play has not scored in the past three games (0-for-11).