BostonBruins.com –– The Boston Bruins are closing out their four-game road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center.
The B’s collected a point in their 2-1 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, and are looking for a full two against the Hurricanes. The 7 p.m. puck drop marks the third and final regular-season meeting between the teams; the Bruins beat the Hurricanes 2-1 on Nov. 1 and fell 3-1 on Nov. 17.
Carolina has clinched a playoff spot, sitting atop the Metropolitan Division with 104 points. The Bruins are in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 95 points.
With the Bruins capping off a stretch of three games in four days, head coach Marco Sturm opted to keep the team off the ice on Tuesday morning and hold meetings and an outdoor workout in place of a pregame skate.
"Switch it up," said Sturm. "Playing a lot of hockey...it's all about tonight. I just want to give the guys the best opportunity to perform here before we head home...it's not the first time I've done it. A lot of times I do it by feel. I thought with how many games we've played, the back-to-back, we were running low a little bit. Sometimes, the feel I had from the group, maybe wasn't as sharp. Just want to save some energy and hopefully they show it tonight."
Alex Steeves will enter the lineup for the first time since March 16. The 26-year-old forward is expected to slot in on the third line alongside Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov. Lukas Reichel will draw out. Steeves has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) through 41 games, and signed a two-year extension with Boston in January. Sturm said the rest of the lineup is the same.
"It's more about the opponent," said Sturm. "We're more about where you play. It's a tight building here, it's a tough building. That means you've got to put your grinding boots on. I thought Steevie's been excellent in practice. He's been working extremely hard. We just couldn't find him a game. I thought this would be a perfect fit for him tonight."
Wait, There’s More
- Jeremy Swayman will start in net for Boston. The goaltender last played on Saturday in Tampa and made 20 saves. Swayman has a 2.70 goals against average and a .908 save percentage through 52 games, and 30 wins on the season.
- Elias Lindholm was the fifth overall pick of the Hurricanes in the 2013 NHL Draft. His Bruins linemate, Morgan Geekie, was a third-round pick for the Hurricanes in 2017. The two are skating on the first line with David Pastrnak, who has five points in his last four games.
- Mason Lohrei remains in the lineup for his second game since returning from an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old defenseman logged 16:16 of ice time while on the second pair with Hampus Lindholm on Sunday in Philadelphia. Lohrei has 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) through 69 games.
Opposing View
- The Hurricanes most recently fell 6-3 to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre. Logan Stankoven, Andrei Svechnikov and former Bruin Taylor Hall scored in the loss; netminder Frederik Andersen made 25 saves. Carolina has won three of its last five games ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with Boston.
- Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 78 points (26 goals, 52 assists) through 77 games. The 28-year-old forward has been centering the first line between Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis. The trio is also on the first power-play unit; Carolina’s man advantage is ranked fifth in the league at 24.7%. Svechnikov has a team-high 11 power-play goals this season.
- Brandon Bussi signed as a free agent with Boston in March 2022 and spent a little over three years in the organization before eventually landing in Raleigh in October 2025. The 27-year-old goaltender has a 2.46 GAA and a .895 SV% through 36 games in his first NHL season. Bussi is expected to get the start against the Bruins.
