Projected lines, pairings for Bruins ahead of pivotal Game 6 in Florida

The Boston Bruins weren't able to eliminate the Florida Panthers at home in Game 5, but they'll get another chance to do it Friday night when their first-round playoff series resumes in Game 6 at FLA Live Arena.

The Panthers' stunning overtime victory has given the team a lot of confidence going back to their home arena. That said, the Panthers need to play much better than they did in Games 3 and 4 to stave off elimination a second time. The Bruins absolutely dominated the Panthers in those two games, winning by a combined score of 10-4 thanks to great depth, excellent special teams and elite goaltending. The costly turnovers that have plagued the Bruins in Boston have not been an issue down in Florida.

Bruins' struggles on home ice are troubling

In lineup news, Bruins center David Krejci will participate in warmups before Game 6 and see how he feels. Krejci played the first two games of the series but has missed the last three due to an upper body injury.

Krejci said he’ll take warmups and then make a decision. Signs point to a no-go but we’ll see

— steve conroy (@conroyherald) April 28, 2023

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after Friday's morning skate that Linus Ullmark will again be the starting goalie. Ullmark has started each game of the series and has tallied a .913 save percentage with a 2.79 GAA. However, he is 2-0-0 with a .946 save percentage at FLA Live Arena in this series. 

Montgomery also said defenseman Connor Clifton will return to the lineup. Matt Grzelcyk will be a healthy scratch as a result.

Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg is out for the series with an upper body injury, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters Friday morning. No major lineup changes are expected for Florida. 

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams entering Game 6. 

BOSTON BRUINS (3-2)

Forwards

Brad Marchand--Patrice Bergeron--Jake DeBrusk

Tyler Bertuzzi--Pavel Zacha--David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall--Charlie Coyle--Trent Frederic

Nick Foligno--Tomas Nosek--Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen

Dmitry Orlov--Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm--Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort--Connor Clifton

Goalies

Linus Ullmark (confirmed starter)

Jeremy Swayman

FLORIDA PANTHERS (2-3)

Forwards

Carter Verhaeghe--Aleksander Barkov--Anthony Duclair

Nick Cousins--Sam Bennett--Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen--Anton Lundell--Sam Reinhart

Colin White----Eric Staal--Zac Dalpe

Defense

Gustav Forsling--Aaron Ekblad

Marc Staal--Brandon Montour

Josh Mahura--Radko Gudas

Goalies

Sergei Bobrovsky (projected starter)

Alex Lyon