Game 6: Marchand Likely Back for Bruins; Lomberg, Cousins for Panthers

The Boston Bruins are expected to have captain Brad Marchand back for Game 6 tonight with Ryan Lomberg and Nick Cousins returning for the Florida Panthers.

Boston coach Jim Montgomery said Marchand had “a few steps” to go through and would be a game-time decision.

The Bruins would certainly love to have Marchand back.

He has been out since leaving Game 3 after the second period.

Marchand went through practice in Boston on Thursday and took part in Friday’s morning skate.

And, his mom told a Boston TV station that her son would play.

So, there’s that.

“You can’t put a number on it, percentage wise,” Montgomery said when asked what Marchand’s return would mean. “You can’t put a number on it emotionally. He’s our leader, he’s our captain, he’s our heart and soul.”

As for Cousins and Lomberg coming back, Paul Maurice said neither player deserved to come out of the lineup in the first place.

Lomberg has been out since Game 1 of the Lightning series; Cousins was replaced in the lineup when Sam Bennett came back in Game 3 of this one.

“There were a couple of games of the Tampa series that I didn’t love, and we had these guys (Kyle Okposo and Steven Lorentz) who I thought could help. They played very, very well,” Maurice said.

“I felt the same way the last game. I have these two guys sitting out who I think could really bring some legs tonight. They are energy-bringers from the start and that goes into the locker room, the morning skate, all of the little superstition routines the players have … those two guys are connected to everyone. They bring that.”

— The starting goalies: Jeremy Swayman vs. Sergei Bobrovsky.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

FLORIDA PANTHERS (ATL1) V. BOSTON BRUINS (ATL2)

FLORIDA LEADS BEST-OF-7 SERIES 3-2

GAME 6

• When: Friday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Boston Garden
• National TV: TNT
• Streaming: HBO Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• app
• Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-135); Puck line (-1.5, +180); Over/Under 5.5 (+105/-130). Series Florida -750
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Boston 5, @Florida 1; Game 2: @Florida 6, Boston 1; Game 3: Florida 6, @Boston 2; Game 4: Florida 3, @Boston 2; Game 5: Boston 2, @Florida 1; Game 6: Friday at Boston, TBA; Game 7*: Sunday May 19 at Florida TBA. (*) – If Necessary 
• How They Got Here: Florida d. Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1; Boston d. Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3
• Last Season vs. Boston — Regular Season: Tied 2-2; Playoffs: Florida won 4-3 (first-round)
• This Season (Bruins 4-0) — At Boston: Bruins 3, Panthers 2 OT (Oct.30); Bruins 3, Panthers 2 OT (Ap. 6). At Florida: Bruins 3, Panthers 1 (Nov. 22); Bruins 4, Panthers 3 (March 26).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 64-37-7, 6 ties
• All-time Postseason Series: Florida leads 2-0 (1996 1st, 2023 1st)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (3-2) LINES

10 Vladimir Tarasenko // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

23 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 17 Evan Rodrigues 

21 Nick Cousins // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 94 Ryan Lomberg

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola //  62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Kyle Okposo, Steven Lorentz, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, Will Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif, Patrick Giles

Injured: None

PROJECTED BOSTON BRUINS (2-3) LINES

74 Jake DeBrusk // 39 Morgan Geekie // 88 David Pastrnak

63 Brad Marchand // 13 Charlie Coyle// 11 Trent Frederic

43 Danton Heinen // 18 Pavel Zacha // 55 Justin Brazeau 

21 James van Riemsdyk // 19 John Beecher  // 61 Pat Maroon

6 Mason Lohrei // 25 Brandon Carlo

27 Hampus Lindholm // 73 Charlie McAvoy

29 Parker Wotherspoon // 52 Andrew Peeke

1 Jeremy Swayman

35 Linus Ullmark

Scratched: Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jakub Lauko, Jesper Boqvist, Joey Abate, Patrick Brown, Brandon Bussi, Michael Callahan, Michael DiPietro, Trevor Kuntar, Marc McLaughlin, Jayson Megna, Georgii Merkulov, Ian Mitchell, Oskar Steen

Boston Bruins Lines Courtesy NHL.Com