The Boston Bruins held their final practice before Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
While the Game 1 forward lines and defensive pairings (below) seem to be set for the Boston Bruins, the goalie situation remains the million-dollar question surrounding them. Will the Bruins continue to use a strict goalie rotation, and who will start Game 1, Jeremy Swayman or Linus Ullmark?
“We have decided, but we’re not sharing it with you guys,” Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery replied when asked if he had decided on a Game 1 starter following practice on Friday.
As for whether there will be a different goalie between the Bruins’ pipes in each game during the best-of-seven series with the Maple Leafs, general manager Don Sweeney already addressed that after practice on Thursday.
“I guess,” Sweeney said when asked if it was realistic to stick with a strict goalie rotation.
“I’ll sum it up in the fact that we’re very confident in our goaltending. I think it’s been a strength of our hockey club, certainly for the past two years. The noise that goes on outside is not necessarily filtered as much inside as what people may believe because our goalies know what the plan is; they know what their strengths are for our hockey club and how much we rely on them. Performance and results will dictate some of this, but we know what the plan is going in, and so do they… and we’re comfortable with it.”
On Friday, Montgomery was also asked the same question and deferred to Sweeney’s reply from Thursday
“I think Donny explained it great yesterday,” Montgomery replied. “We got two great goaltenders. Our entire group is comfortable with either one, and performance is going to dictate a lot of how we move forward.”
As for the roster in front of whomever that goalie is when the Bruins and Leafs begin their 17th Stanley Cup Playoffs series against each other at 8 p.m. ET (NESN, TBS, truTV, MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS), it appears forwards Pat Maroon and John Beecher – who was recalled from the Providence Bruins on Friday morning – will draw back into the lineup.
Here’s what the forward lines and defensive pairings should look like for Game 1:
Forwards
Danton Heinen – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko – Morgan Geekie – Trent Frederic
John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon
Defensemen
Hampus Lindholm – Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo
Kevin Shattenkirk – Andrew Peeke
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