Need to Know: Bruins vs. Lightning

BOSTON – For the second consecutive Saturday, the Bruins and Bolts will do battle as the teams square off at TD Garden with Boston look for its third win in four games since the trade deadline. The Black & Gold took last weekend’s meeting, 4-0, at Amalie Arena with a spirited effort in their first game after a whirlwind deadline that saw the team deal away Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo.

“I think it’s important that we are ready to play every game…we want to make sure we’re here to play, especially with an offensive team like Tampa, who is dangerous,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said of his club’s matchup against the Lightning, who have dropped three straight.

“They’re very dangerous off the rush, in-zone. We have to be sharp, we have to be executing, executing well on our breakouts handling the pressure and then making good decisions with the puck early on, playing behind, establish a forecheck game, and just be ready.

“The attention to details is going to be important here, especially early on.”

Wait, There’s More

• After being pulled following the first period in Ottawa on Thursday night, Jeremy Swayman will get another start between the pipes. “We feel like he needs to get back in there,” said Sacco. “We want to make sure that we have a good response as a group here tonight, especially the first period.”
• Charlie McAvoy skated on his own before the morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. The blue liner has not played since before the 4 Nations break. “There’s no new timeline on it, the timeline’s the same,” said Sacco. “He’s still week-to-week. The good news is he’s skating on his own so that’s positive. The next step if and when he joins our team to start skating with us as a group.”
• Casey Mittelstadt (1-2–3) has recorded a point in each of his first three games with the Bruins after being acquired from the Avalanche at the NHL Trade Deadline. Per NHL Stats, the last player to record a longer point streak to start their tenure with Boston was Nathan Horton (6 GP) in 2010-11. “Casey’s been off to a good start for us,” said Sacco. “He’s producing some offense for us. He sees the ice very well offensively, has the ability to make plays in tight areas. He’s been good for us.”
• Sacco on the play of blue liner Henri Jokiharju since being acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline: “What’s stood out I think is the ability to help us come out of our zone, exit out of our zone cleaner. He has the ability to make some good first passes on our breakouts or coming out of our D-zone coverage. That’s something that can help our group and alleviate some of the pressure when we’re in our defensive zone. I think his play at the offensive blue line has been good. When we go low to high and we’re trying to get the puck…whatever the d-man’s trying to execute at that particular time, he’s been pretty good there so far.”
• David Pastrnak enters Saturday’s game against the Lightning with 48 assists this season. With two more helpers, he would become the ninth player in Bruins history to record three consecutive 50-assist campaigns.

Saturday’s Projected Lineup

FORWARDS

Morgan Geekie – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

Marat Khusnutdinov – Elias Lindholm – Jakub Lauko

Cole Koepke – Casey Mittelstadt – Vinni Lettieri

Johnny Beecher – Patrick Brown – Mark Kastelic

DEFENSEMEN

Nikita Zadorov – Henri Jokiharju

Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke

Parker Wotherspoon – Ian Mitchell

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman

Joonas Korpisalo