Pregame Report: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs- October 19th, 2019

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The Bruins play the first game of their home-and-home with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET, and the game will be broadcast on NESN, CBC, NHL Network, and on Sportsnet 1. Here are the projected lineups for tonight’s matchup, or as close as I could figure them at the time of my writing this.

Boston Bruins:

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Coyle-Kuhlman

Heinen-Lindholm-Ritchie

Wagner-Kuraly-Backes

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

Grzelcyk-Clifton

Halak

Rask

These were the lines from practice yesterday. Krejci and Nordstrom did not travel with the team, so they will not play tonight but they are listed as day-to-day, both with upper-body injuries. Cassidy also mentioned that they may call up someone from Providence, and if that does happen, it will most likely be Anders Bjork, as he has played very well down in Providence.

Toronto Maple Leafs:

Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander

Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner

Moore-Spezza-Kapanen

Timashov-Gauthier-Shore

Rielly-Ceci

Muzzin-Barrie

Marincin-Holl

Andersen

Hutchinson

Tonight is the second of a four-game stretch of really tough opponents for the Bruins. The Leafs have had just an okay start to this season, but given the heated rivalry between these two teams, you better believe both teams will be fired up and playing at their best. The Leafs still have their potent offense from last year, so the Bruins will need Halak to be sharp again as Toronto will certainly get their chances. Both teams are missing their second line centers, as Tavares is out with a broken finger and Krejci is out with an upper-body injury, but in my opinion, the Bruins are better equipped to deal with this, especially if they call someone (Bjork hopefully) up from Providence. Should their secondary scoring come alive, the Bruins should easily walk out of tonight’s game with a win, as the Leafs defense is as porous as ever. Even if it doesn’t, as long as they play well, they should still be able to win tonight, it will just be a lot tougher. I will be at this game tonight as I took a road trip to Toronto for it and to see the Hockey Hall of Fame, so for my sake, I hope they play well or I won’t be able to return the chirps I will inevitably get! It also means there will be no postgame from me on here tonight, but be sure to check out the one over at PUCKerUp Boston!