Bruins vs. Bruins Game 4 Lineup Panthers: projected lines, pairings, goaltenders

Bruins vs. Bruins Game 4 Lineup Panthers: projected lines, pairings, goaltenders originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

Sunday night’s Game 4 at TD Garden technically isn’t a must-win matchup for the Boston Bruins, but if they want to have any chance of winning this Eastern Conference second-round series, a Mother’s Day win is practically necessary.

A loss would put the Bruins in a 3-1 series hole, which would be incredibly difficult to overcome against a Panthers team that is firing on all cylinders offensively.

Speaking of offense, the Bruins need find a way to generate more scoring chances in Game 4. They have scored two or fewer goals in five of their last six games, including the last two games of this series. The Panthers scored 10 unanswered goals between Games 2 and 3. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has an .881 save percentage in the series. He is very beatable, but the Bruins are making his life easier by not creating much traffic in front of the crease. They are also not getting enough shots on net.

Creating more offense will be difficult without Brad Marchand. The Bruins captain will not play in Game 4 due to an upper-body injury, coach Jim Montgomery said after Sunday’s morning skate.

Marchand was shaken afterwards a questionable hit by Panthers center Sam Bennett in the first period of Game 3. Marchand played until the end of the second period, but did not return in the third period. Marchand is the Bruins’ leading scorer in the playoffs with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games.

Danton Heinen could return to the lineup after missing the last five games due to injury. Montgomery said Heinen is an option for Game 4. He practiced with the team on Saturday. The versatile forward had 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 74 regular season games.

No major roster changes are expected for the Panthers. Bennett returned in Game 3 after missing the previous five games due to injury.

Here are the projected lineups for Game 4 of Bruins-Panthers.

Boston Bruins (1-2)

Forwards

Jake DeBrusk – Morgan Geekie – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – Pavel Zacha – Justin Brazeau

Danton Heinen – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic

Jakub Lauko – John Beecher – Pat Maroon

Defenders

Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Andrew Peeke

Goalkeeper

Jeremy Swayman

Florida Panthers (2-1)

Forwards

Vladimir Tarasenko-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Evan Rodrigues

Steven Lorentz-Kevin Stenlund-Kyle Okposo

Defenders

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov

Goalkeeper

Sergei Bobrovsky