Projected lines, pairings for Bruins vs. Capitals Game 4

Share

The Boston Bruins have an opportunity to take a stranglehold on their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Washington Capitals in Friday night's Game 4 at TD Garden.

Another victory would give the Bruins a 3-1 series advantage. Boston took its first lead of the series on Wednesday night with a 3-2 double overtime victory at home

From a lineup perspective, we shouldn't expect any major changes for Boston. David Pastrnak was on the ice for Friday's morning skate despite crashing hard into the boards during overtime Wednesday.

Why success of B's second line bodes well for Stanley Cup hopes

The Capitals' lineup is a little more uncertain. Veteran center Lars Eller suffered an injury in Game 2 and didn't play in Game 3. His status for Friday night remains unknown.

Capitals goalie Ilya Samonsov made his series debut in Game 3 and played pretty well until a miscommunication with defenseman Justin Schultz behind his net resulted in B's winger Craig Smith scoring the winning goal for Boston. Samsonov was the first Capitals netminder off the ice at Washington's morning skate Friday, according to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post. So, it appears that Samsonov will be back between the pipes.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for Bruins vs. Capitals Game 4.

BOSTON BRUINS

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand--Patrice Bergeron--David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall--David Krejci--Craig Smith

Nick Ritchie--Charlie Coyle--Jake DeBrusk

Sean Kuraly--Curtis Lazar--Chris Wagner

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk--Charlie McAvoy

Mike Reilly--Brandon Carlo

Connor Clifton--Kevan Miller

GOALIES

Tuukka Rask (starter), Jeremy Swayman (backup)

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

FORWARDS

Alexander Ovechkin--Evgeny Kuznetsov--T.J. Oshie

Anthony Mantha--Nicklas Backstrom--Tom Wilson

Conor Sheary--Michael Raffl--Daniel Carr

Carl Hagelin--Nic Dowd--Garnet Hathaway

DEFENSEMEN

Dmitry Orlov--John Carlson

Brenden Dillon--Justin Schultz

Zdeno Chara--Nick Jensen

GOALIES

Ilya Samsonov (starter), Craig Anderson/Pheonix Copley (backup)

Contact Us