(1A) Panthers at (2A) Bruins
Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 4
6:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS
Florida leads best-of-7 series 2-1
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins will be without Brad Marchand when they try to even the Eastern Conference Second Round in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Sunday.
The Bruins captain sustained an upper-body injury on a hit from Panthers center Sam Bennett during a 6-2 loss in Game 3 on Friday. He did not practice Saturday and is day to day.
Marchand leads Boston in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games.
“He’s a very important piece of our team and a leader, but we have to stick together, put everything out there we can and just play like we can,” Bruins forward Pavel Zacha said. “Missing him is going to be hard, but I think we have a great leadership group here who can help us with that situation.”
Florida has outscored Boston 12-3 the past two games since a 5-1 loss in Game 1.
“I think we just continue doing what we do at our best, compete hard and play hard,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “The game plan, I think we executed it really well. Obviously, [our] power play came up big. Needed to defend at the end, and we defended well.”
The Panthers are expecting a strong push from the Bruins, especially in front of their home crowd, especially not wanting to go back to Florida with elimination on the line in Game 5.
“It happened to us too,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “We lost the first game at home and had a push and they’re going to have a push too. Even in the third [period] last game, you could hear it, the fans got into and I expect more of the same next game. I think they’re going to come out and put their best foot forward.
“They’re going to be skating, getting big hits, buzzing around, and we’re going to have to do our best to defend them or kind of weather it because they’re definitely going to have parts of their game where they’re better than us.”
Here are 3 keys for Game 4:
1. Bruins must find a way without Marchand
Boston will be without its leading scorer and emotional leader Sunday.
Marchand did not play in the third period of Game 3 following the hit at 3:38 of the first. The Bruins have been clear they did not like the play.
Marchand has two assists in the three games against the Panthers.
Asked if that can be galvanizing for the Bruins, coach Jim Montgomery said, “It can be. It has been. And it should be tonight with who our captain is.”
He also said that going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, given the absence of Marchand, is a possibility. Either way, the Bruins have to fill a huge void.
“It’s not going to be one guy,” forward Trent Frederic said. “It’s got to be all of us as a group. He brings more than what you just see on the ice.”
2. Keep the forecheck coming
One of the major reasons the Panthers have a 2-1 lead in this series has been their ferocious forecheck.
They have been dominating, making life extremely difficult for the Bruins, often tiring them out by the time that they get out of their own end -- if they get out.
The Panthers need more of that in Game 4.
“We want to be physical on the forecheck and, when we can’t be physical, we want to have a good stick and try to be quick to close,” Verhaeghe said. “I think when everyone is quick to close and has their guy, it’s tough to break the puck out and make clean plays and any time you’re under pressure, especially in this league, guys are really fast and it’s tough to make a crisp play.
“And when you don’t make a pass on the stick of your teammate, it turns into a little bit of chaos, and I think that kind of benefits us a little bit.”
3. Again, who is in goal for the Bruins?
Since Game 3 of the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins have gone with Jeremy Swayman in each game. He responded, not giving up more than two goals in any game through the opener of the second round. The blame lies mostly with the Bruins defense, but Swayman has allowed nine goals in his past two starts, four on 23 shots in Game 2 and five on 32 shots in Game 3.
So, does Montgomery make the change to Linus Ullmark?
He wouldn’t say Sunday morning.
“The thinking and factoring is we talked about we had a plan at the beginning and it always considered the fact that our goalies are not used to playing consecutive games in a short amount of period of time, so that’s factoring into the decision tonight,” Montgomery said.
Ullmark participated in the Bruins’ optional skate; Swayman did not.
Panthers projected lineup
Vladimir Tarasenko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Evan Rodrigues
Steven Lorentz -- Kevin Stenlund -- Kyle Okposo
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Nick Cousins, Ryan Lomberg, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, William Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif
Injured: None
Bruins projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Morgan Geekie -- David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen -- Charlie Coyle -- Trent Frederic
James van Riemsdyk -- Pavel Zacha -- Justin Brazeau
Jakub Lauko -- John Beecher -- Pat Maroon
Mason Lohrei -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Andrew Peeke
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: Matt Grzelcyk, Parker Wotherspoon, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jesper Boqvist, Michael DiPietro
Injured: Brad Marchand (upper body)
Status report
Heinen is an “option” to return Sunday, according to Montgomery. He’s missed the past five games with an undisclosed injury but was a full participant at practice Saturday. … The Panthers are expected to have the same lineup as Game 3.
