Bruins at Devils preview

BRUINS (33-12-8) at DEVILS (27-19-8)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, NESN, NHL.TV

Goaltender Eddie Lack, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames on Dec. 30 and had been playing in the Devils AHL affiliate in Binghamton, is expected to make his first start with New Jersey. The Devils are coming off a 6-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. They have 62 points and hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Bruins had their four-game winning streak end after a 4-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The loss also ended goaltender Tuukka Rask's 21-game point streak. Anton Khudobin will be in the nets for the Bruins, who are 18-2-4 in their past 24 games and trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by five points for first place in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.

Players to watch

Bruins forward David Pastrnak has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games.
Devils left wing Taylor Hall has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"I don't think we stressed the (Sabres) defense much in terms of the forecheck pressure, and I think that's where the game plan didn't materialize for us. We thought that would be the way to go, and we didn't execute it. We didn't want to forecheck; we wanted to beat guys one on one. There's a time and a place for that." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"The season is slipping by here and we're not even grabbing shootout losses or overtime losses. We're losing in regulation and we've got to put an end to it. You can say what you want about we got chances or we're facing hot goalies. We're not winning games, so we need better from a lot of guys in this room." -- Devils left wing Taylor Hall

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Ryan Spooner
Danton Heinen -- Riley Nash -- David Backes
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- Adam McQuaid
Anton Khudobin
Tuukka Rask
Scratched: Paul Postma, Austin Czarnik
Injured: Frank Vatrano (Iower body), Kevan Miller (upper body), Anders Bjork (upper body)

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Jesper Bratt
Miles Wood -- Pavel Zacha -- Kyle Palmieri
John Quenneville -- Travis Zajac -- Stefan Noesen
Blake Coleman -- Brian Boyle -- Drew Stafford
Andy Greene -- Sami Vatanen
John Moore -- Damon Severson
Will Butcher -- Ben Lovejoy
Eddie Lack
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched: Jimmy Hayes, Mirco Mueller
Injured: Cory Schneider (groin), Marcus Johansson (concussion), Brian Gibbons (thumb)

Status report

Acciari, who has missed the past seven games with a lower-body injury, is expected to replace Czarnik.

Stat pack

Bergeron has 23 points (14 goals, nine assists) in his past 17 games. Spooner is one assist away from 100 in his NHL career. ... Palmieri has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games.