Bruins at Blues preview

BRUINS (45-17-9) at BLUES (39-28-5)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV

The Bruins, 8-2-1 in their past 11 games, are second in the Atlantic Division, five points behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning with one game in hand, and six points ahead of the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs with two games in hand.
The Blues, 4-1-0 in their past five games after going 1-7-2 in their previous 10, are three points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with a game in hand.
St. Louis forward Vladimir Tarasenko, day to day with an upper-body injury, will miss his second straight game.

Players to watch

Bruins forward Brad Marchand has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his past nine games and 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists) in his past 28.
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who was named the NHL First Star of the Week on Monday, has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past two games and 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past five.

They said it

"It would be great. That's the first step. You want to get in. We put ourselves in a good spot obviously. ... It'll be an important first step for us if we're able to do that." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, on potentially clinching a Stanley Cup Playoff berth
"The position that we're in, you're trying to get every point you can. We know where we're at and what we have to do." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Riley Nash -- David Pastrnak
Ryan Donato
-- David Krejci -- Danton Heinen
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Tommy Wingels
Jordan Szwarz
-- Noel Acciari -- Brian Gionta
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Nick Holden -- Adam McQuaid
Anton Khudobin
Tuukka Rask
Scratched: Paul Postma
Injured: Rick Nash (upper body), Zdeno Chara (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (upper body), Patrice Bergeron (foot), Charlie McAvoy (knee), David Backes (leg laceration)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Alexander Steen
Patrik Berglund -- Kyle Brodziak -- Vladimir Sobotka
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Ivan Barbashev -- Tage Thompson
Nikita Soshnikov -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Chris Thorburn
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Ville Husso
Scratched: Jordan Schmaltz
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body), Carter Hutton (neck), Scottie Upshall (knee)

Status report

Szwarz and Postma were recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis Tuesday. ... Khudobin will start for the third time in eight games. ... Upshall skated for the first time since March 3.

Stat pack

Pastrnak has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games. ... Schwartz has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.