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
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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.
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.
Boston Bruins
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