BRIGHTON, Mass – It looks like as if the Bruins might be without a member of their fourth line when the puck is dropped against the Blue Jackets for Game 5 on Saturday night.
Noel Acciari (undisclosed) was missing from morning skate Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena with Chris Wagner skating in his place on the fourth-line right wing, and Bruce Cassidy said the hard-hitting forward would be a game-time decision. Certainly, there’s a small chance he could play, but it looks more like Wagner will skate in his third game in the series after going scoreless in Games 1 and 2 before becoming a healthy scratch.
“We gave Noel the morning off,” said Cassidy. “He’ll be a game-time decision for tonight. Chris Wagner will go in for him if he can’t go.”
Otherwise, it’s expected to be the same lineup for the Black and Gold after they played their best game of the series in a 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night in Columbus. Here are the projected line combos and D-pairings for the Bruins in Game 5, with a 7:15 puck drop at TD Garden:
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Krejci-Backes
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Johansson-Coyle-Heinen
Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner
Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Clifton
Rask
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