Bruins vs. Panthers Game 4 lineup: Projected lines, pairings, goalies

Bruins vs. Panthers Game 4 lineup: Projected lines, pairings, goalies originally appeared on 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’re going to have any chance at winning this Eastern Conference second-round series, a victory on Mother’s Day is pretty much required.

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

The Bruins, meanwhile, need to 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 matchups of this series. The Panthers scored 10 unanswered goals between Games 2 and 3. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has a .881 save percentage in the series. He’s very beatable, but the Bruins are making life easy for him by not creating a ton of traffic in front of the crease. They’re also not getting enough shots on net.

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

Marchand was shaken up after a questionable hit by Panthers center Sam Bennett in the first period of Game 3. Marchand played through the end of the second period but didn’t return for 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 potentially rejoin 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 Saturday. The versatile forward tallied 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 74 games during the regular season.

No major lineup 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 Bruins-Panthers Game 4.

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

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei–Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm–Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort–Andrew Peeke

Goalie

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

Defensemen

Gustav Forsling–Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola–Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson–Dmitry Kulikov

Goalie

Sergei Bobrovsky