The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs gave injury and lineup updates ahead of their Game 6 tilt at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday night.
Boston Bruins winger Danton Heinen was a game-time decision for Game 5 and ultimately wound up playing, finishing the game as a minus 1 with no points and two hits in 15:46 TOI. Well, Heinen won’t even make it to the game-time decision status for Game 6. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound winger was not on the ice for the Bruins’ game-day skate on Thursday morning and was ruled out for Game 6 by head coach Jim Montgomery.
With Heinen not available, Bruins rookie forward John Beecher will draw back into the lineup after watching his team’s 2-1 overtime loss in Game 5 from the press box. Beecher is expected to skate on the left wing, with Jesper Boqvist and Pat Maroon on the right wing of the energy line.
After getting walked by Maple Leafs captain John Tavares on the play leading to the Matthew Knies overtime winner and making the turnover that led to Jake McCabe’s goal that put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 5:33 into regulation of Game 5, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk will be a healthy scratch for Game 6. In his place will be Kevin Shattenkirk, who was a healthy scratch in Game 5. Shattenkirk will skate on the right of the Bruins’ third defensive pairing with Parker Wotherspoon on the left.
The Maple Leafs will be facing elimination for a second straight game, and for a second straight time, they will need to do so without their best player, Auston Matthews. Matthews skated before his teammates had their game-day skate on Thursday morning but was ruled out for Game 6 by Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Here’s what the lineups should look like for both teams in Game 6:
Boston Bruins Lineup
Forwards
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie
Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk – – Trent Frederic – Justin Brazeau
John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon
Defensemen
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon – Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalies
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Max Domi – Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies – John Tavares – William Nylander
Nick Robertson – Pontus Holmberg – Calle Jarnkrok
Connor Dewar – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Morgan Reilly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren
Goalies
Joseph Woll
Ilya Samsonov
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