Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins: Game 3 Lineups and Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes enter Game 3 of this Eastern Conference Finals not in unfamiliar territory, but certainly with their backs pressed firmly against the wall as they trail the Boston Bruins 2-0 in the series.

Rod Brind’Amour has been quiet about who will play in net, saying earlier today that he knew the answer but “wasn’t going to be that guy” to spill the beans. Justin Bourne took a look at why coaches do that in The Athletic today ($) - and it has less to do with the goalies themselves and more attempting to affect the mental preparation of the opposition.

That said, the Canes may have some lineup changes in place for Game 3. Jordan Martinook did not practice yesterday and it is possible that Saku Maenalanen could return from injury in his place. The Canes will be looking to continue their home success in the postseason (5-0 in the playoffs).

The projected lineup for the Canes is below:

Nino Niederreiter - Sebastian Aho - Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Warren Foegele - Greg McKegg - Brock McGinn
Micheal Ferland - Lucas Wallmark - Jordan Martinook/Saku Maenalanen

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce - Justin Faulk
Haydn Fleury - Calvin de Haan

Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney

Injuries and Scratches: Trevor van Riemsdyk (shoulder surgery), Jake Bean (healthy), Patrick Brown (healthy)

The Boston Bruins are looking to establish complete control of the series in Game 3 as they look for Tuukka Rask to continue his Conn Smythe-esque work in net. He has stopped 50 of the 54 shots he has faced in the series. The Bruins have also received balanced scoring in the first two games, as a whopping 16 different players have dented the score sheet.

Even with Noel Acciari has been deemed healthy enough to return, the Bruins will again roll out the same lineup from Game 2.

And they’ll do so with a contingent of Bruins fans in the crowd who flew down to Raleigh on a new Bruins-branded JetBlue plane, which we showed you in the preview this morning. That plane was almost entirely Bruins fans, but a couple of Hurricanes interlopers snuck their way on - and you’ll never believe who they were.

We couldn’t make this stuff if we tried, folks.

Anyway, the Bruins’ projected lines are below:

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - David Backes
Marcus Johansson - Charlie Coyle - Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom - Sean Kuraly - Austin Wagner

Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Connor Clifton

Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak