Bruins vs. Leafs Game 6 Lineup: Projected Lines, Pairings, Goalies originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins have another chance to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoff series on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The Bruins blew a huge chance to win the series in Tuesday night’s Game 5 at home losing 2-1 in extra time even though the Leafs’ best player, Auston Matthews, didn’t play.
Despite the Game 5 loss and constant reminders of what happened in the first round last year, the Bruins should still be confident heading into Game 6. They have won all four games in Toronto this season, including impressive victories in Games 3 and 4 of this series. The Leafs have lost six consecutive home playoff games and face elimination again. Most of the pressure stays with the Leafs.
The Bruins made some lineup changes in Game 5, which were a mistake. The lineups for Games 3 and 4 worked and didn’t need any adjustments. Will John Beecher return after the Bruins were destroyed in the faceoff circle in Game 5? Beecher leads the team with a 54.8 faceoff percentage in this series, and he is the only B center above 47 percent.
Based on morning skate pairings, it appears that Kevin Shattenkirk will be in the lineup and Matt Grzelcyk will not. Grzelcyk returned to the lineup in Game 5 and did not play well. Shattenkirk was a healthy scratch in Game 5.
One person who definitely won’t play Thursday is Danton Heinen. Montgomery confirmed that the veteran wing is out, and that his status is day to day.
The Bruins started Jeremy Swayman in net for each of the last three games. He has had an extra day of rest in each of the last two games. That’s not the case entering Game 6, but playing four games in 10 days shouldn’t be too much of a burden for a 25-year-old goalie who played in 44 games during the regular season. Swayman was the best goaltender in the entire playoffs through five games, leading the league in save percentage and GAA.
Starting Swayman should be an obvious decisionbut again, we’ll have to wait until pregame warmups for official confirmation of which goalkeeper is starting.
Leafs will be without Matthews for second straight game, coach Sheldon Keefe says told reporters after the morning skate.
Matthews hasn’t played since the second period of Game 4. Multiple reports indicate he may be battling some type of injury, not just an illness. The Leafs used a first line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Mitch Marner without Matthews in Game 5, and this trio played fantastically. The Leafs had a 23-10 advantage in shot attempts, a 10-3 advantage in shots, and a 10-5 advantage in scoring chances when this line was on the ice during 5-on-5 action.
The Leafs also made a change in net for Game 5, starting Joseph Woll. He had one of his best performances of the season, allowing just one goal on 28 shots. He made some saves in the third period and overtime to help Toronto avoid elimination. He’ll need to put in a similar effort in Game 6 if the Leafs want to extend the series again.
Here are the projected lineups for Game 6. We will update this article when the Bruins’ starting goaltender is official.
Boston Bruins (3-2)
Forwards
Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Brad Machand – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie
James van Riemsdyk – Trent Frederic – Justin Brazeau
John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon – Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalkeeper
Jeremy Swayman
Toronto Maple Leafs (2-3)
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Max Domi – Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies-John Tavares-William Nylander
Nick Robertson – Pontus Holmberg – Calle Jarnkrok
Connor Dewar, David Kampf, Ryan Reaves
Defenders
Morgan Rielly-Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren
Goalkeeper
José Woll
