Bruins at Lightning preview

BRUINS (49-17-12) at LIGHTNING (52-23-4)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, TVAS, NESN, NHL.TV

The Bruins have 110 points, two ahead of the Lightning with one game in hand.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy will play for the Bruins after missing 15 games with a sprained MCL in his left knee.
Center Steven Stamkos (lower body) will not play for the Lightning. Stamkos did not practice Monday after he left the game Sunday against the Nashville Predators during the second period.
The Lightning need one point to break their single-season record set in 2014-15, but are 1-4-0 in their past five games and have lost four of their past six on home ice.

Players to watch

Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past seven games.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"Where we're at, I still think the next team up is Tampa. We've had some success this year against them because we played the right way against them. They're very good offensively and if we allow them to free wheel and get chance after chance they're going to beat you." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"In the end, we knew it was going to come down to this. They've taken two of the three games down the stretch. So my feeling is, if they beat us again tonight, well, they deserve the division crown. They earned it. We win tonight, it's a whole different ballgame of what's going to happen." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Ryan Donato
Danton Heinen -- David Backes -- Noel Acciari
Tim Schaller -- Colby Cave -- Brian Gionta
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Nick Holden
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Adam McQuaid
Injured:Brandon Carlo (lower body), Riley Nash (ear laceration), Sean Kuraly (upper body), Rick Nash (upper body), Anders Bjork (shoulder), Tommy Wingels (hand)

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
J.T. Miller -- Tyler Johnson -- Cory Conacher
Yanni Gourde -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn
Chris Kunitz -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman -- Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh -- Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn -- Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Andrej Sustr, Jake Dotchin, Cory Conacher, Peter Budaj, Slater Koekkoek
Injured: Adam Erne (lower body), Steven Stamkos (lower body)

Status report

Rick Nash skated in Boston. ... Carlo did not join the Bruins on the road trip. … Hedman participated in an optional skate after missing practice Monday.

Stat pack

Pastrnak has eight points (five goals, three assists) during a six-game point streak. … Miller has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in 16 games since he was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Feb. 26.