Marco Sturm hasn't committed to his Bruins lineup for Game 20 against the Wild tonight, according to Jack Studley's game notes.
Boston limps into the matchup after Thursday's 5-2 loss to Montreal, and the Wild show up with the second-best record in the NHL. The Bruins are 13-5-1 and sit third in the Atlantic.
Here is the group Boston skated with at Friday's practice, the last real look at the lines before the Wild arrive:
Studley's game notes for the Wild matchup are out this morning, and the lines are the part to watch.
Sturm was asked about the changes after Friday's session and didn't tie himself to anything. A few pairs were switched, he said, but the final call waits for this morning.
The Bruins hold their morning skate at 10:30 AM at TD Garden. That is where the real picture shows up, and we will see whether Friday's group survives it.
We already looked at Marco Sturm's Friday practice lines, and the forward groups looked familiar. David Pastrnak has 24 points in 19 games, and breaking up his line after one bad night would be a mistake.
Is the Bruins blue line the real problem?
The defense is where the questions pile up. Bruins defensemen have scored only 2 goals over the last 11 games, and the pairs on the ice Friday were Jonathan Aspirot with Mason Lohrei and Frederic Brunet with Connor Clifton.
Aspirot has played 6 games this season without a point. Brunet has 5 points in 13 games, including a power-play goal, so there is at least some offense on that second pair.
Lohrei has 3 goals this season, which makes him the most natural candidate to help fix the scoring drought from the back end. Sturm's remark about switching pairs suggests he is looking at it too.
The Wild are 8-0-2 in their last 10 and beat Toronto 5-2 on Thursday, the same score Montreal hung on Boston. A team on that run will punish any turnover coming out of the Bruins' zone.
The Bruins are 8-2-0 at home, which is the best argument for keeping things simple. Whatever Sturm decides, the lines for tonight's puck drop come out of this morning's skate.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
What should Marco Sturm change first against the Wild?
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