Projected lines, pairings for Bruins ahead of pivotal Game 5

Will we see Patrice Bergeron make his 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs debut Wednesday night when the Boston Bruins host the Florida Panthers in Game 5 at TD Garden?

Bergeron will be a "game-time decision" and take part in the pre-game warmups, B's head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Wednesday morning. The B's captain was a full participant in Tuesday's practice and participated in Wednesday's optional morning skate.

🎥 Coach Montgomery on Patrice Bergeron's status for Game 5: "He’ll take warmups and we’ll make a game-time decision...as long as he feels after warmups that he feels everything’s good, he’s gonna play." pic.twitter.com/6dnnI8bF9G

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 26, 2023

Bergeron told reporters Tuesday that he didn't anticipate any setbacks. Boston's No. 1 center has missed each game of this series so far after suffering an upper body injury during the regular season finale versus the Montreal Canadiens. 

Bruins' trade deadline pickups making major impact in series vs. Panthers

Linus Ullmark will start in net for the Bruins. He is one of the main reasons why the Bruins hold a 3-1 series lead with a chance to eliminate the Panthers in Game 5. Ullmark made a playoff career-high 41 saves in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. 

David Krejci skated on his own prior to the optional morning skate Wednesday. He remains out for Game 5.

Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad missed Game 4 due to injury, but Florida head coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday that he's ready to go for Game 5. Ekblad's expected return is a huge defensive boost for the Panthers after they gave up 10 goals in Games 3 and 4 combined at FLA Live Arena. Veteran winger Anthony Duclair also is healthy enough to play Wednesday night after not playing Sunday.

No lineup or goalie announcements for the Panthers this morning:

“Everybody’s healthy, everybody’s game-time, and then I’ll tell you the truth later,” Maurice said.

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) April 26, 2023

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams. The Bruins' lines are very much TBD because we still don't definitively know if Bergeron will play. If he does, someone will have to come out of the lineup. 

BOSTON BRUINS (3-1)

Forwards

Brad Marchand--Patrice Bergeron--Jake DeBrusk

Tyler Bertuzzi--Pavel Zacha--David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall--Charlie Coyle--Nick Foligno

Jakub Lauko--Tomas Nosek--Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen

Matt Grzelcyk--Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm--Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort--Dmitry Orlov

Goalies

Linus Ullmark (confirmed starter)

Jeremy Swayman

FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-3)

Forwards

Carter Verhaeghe--Aleksander Barkov--Sam Reinhart

Eetu Luostarinen--Sam Bennett--Matthew Tkachuk

Ryan Lomberg--Anton Lundell--Anthony Duclair

Nick Cousins----Eric Staal--Colin White

Defense

Gustav Forsling--Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal--Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura--Radko Gudas

Goalies

Sergei Bobrovsky (projected starter)

Alex Lyon