Bruins vs. Leafs Game 6 lineup: Projected lines, pairings, goalies

Bruins vs. Leafs Game 6 lineup: Projected lines, pairings, goalies originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins have another chance to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 6 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.

The Bruins blew a great chance to win the series in Tuesday night’s Game 5 at home, losing 2-1 in overtime even though the Leafs’ best player, Auston Matthews, didn’t play.

Despite the Game 5 loss and the constant reminders of what happened in Round 1 last year, the Bruins should still be confident entering Game 6. They’ve won all four of their games in Toronto this season, including impressive victories in Games 3 and 4 of this series. The Leafs have lost six straight home playoff games and they are again facing elimination. Most of the pressure remains on the Leafs.

The Bruins made a couple lineup changes in Game 5, which was a mistake. The lineups from Games 3 and 4 worked and didn’t need adjusting at all. Will John Beecher get back in after the Bruins got destroyed in the faceoff circle in Game 5? Beecher leads the team with a 54.8 faceoff percentage this series, and he’s the only B’s center above 47 percent.

Based on the pairings at morning skate, it appears Kevin Shattenkirk will be in the lineup and Matt Grzelcyk will not. Grzelcyk came back into the lineup in Game 5 and didn’t play well. Shattenkirk was a healthy scratch in Game 5.

One person who’s definitely not playing Thursday is Danton Heinen. Montgomery confirmed the veteran wing is out, and that his status is day to day.

The Bruins have started Jeremy Swayman in net for each of the last three games. He had an extra day of rest going into each of his last two starts. That’s not the case entering Game 6, but making four appearances in 10 days shouldn’t be much of a burden for a 25-year-old goalie who played in 44 games during the regular season. Swayman has been the best goalie in the entire playoffs through five games, leading the league in save percentage and GAA.

Starting Swayman should be a no-brainer decision, but again, we’ll have to wait until pregame warmups for official confirmation of which goalie is starting.

The Leafs will be without Matthews for a second straight game, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters after the morning skate.

Matthews hasn’t played since the second period of Game 4. Multiple reports indicate he could be battling some kind of injury, and not just an illness. The Leafs used a first line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Mitch Marner without Matthews in Game 5, and this trio played fantastic. The Leafs had a 23-10 edge in shot attempts, a 10-3 lead in shots and a 10-5 advantage in scoring chances when this line was on the ice during 5-on-5 action.

The Leafs also made a change in net for Game 5 by starting Joseph Woll. He gave one of his best performances of the season, allowing just one goal on 28 shots. He made a couple clutch saves in both the third period and overtime to help Toronto avoid elimination. He’ll need to give a similar effort in Game 6 if the Leafs are going to extend the series again.

Here are the projected lineups for Game 6. We will update this article when the Bruins’ starting goalie is official.