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Heinen out, Donato in as Bruins host Red Wings

October 13, 2018, 10:48 AM ET [3 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Bruins will look for their fourth straight victory Saturday afternoon at TD Garden where they will host the Detroit Red Wings. The game originally scheduled for 7:00PM will now be played at 3:00PM to avoid conflict with Game 1 of the ALCS between the Astros and Red Sox.

Four games into their season as well, the Red Wings are in search of their first victory of the season. Getting that in Boston on Saturday won’t be easy, however. The Bruins have won eight in a row at home against the Red Wings.

The search for line consistency across their four lines continues Saturday, as it looks like Bruce Cassidy is tinkering with his lines once again.

Friday’s practice saw Ryan Donato at the third line left wing, with Danton Heinen the odd man out. Donato was a healthy scratch for Thursday’s win over the Edmonton Oilers. Cassidy has been moving some of the young guys in and out of the lineup as he looks to get some of his younger players going.

“I’d say it’s apt that he’s [Heinen] fighting it. And another penalty [Thursday]. In general, when Danton had tough stretches last year he was still usually very reliable, and you could count on him to bring his B game defensively and not hurt you. Right now he’s taking a lot of stick fouls between the preseason and now,” Cassidy said. “That’s the first thing that we need to correct.”

Bruins projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Joakim Nordstrom-David Krejci-Jake DeBrusk
Ryan Donato-David Backes-Anders Bjork
Chris Wagner-Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari

Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
John Moore-Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Red Wings projected lines:

Justin Abdelkader-Dylan Larkin-Anthony Mantha
Gustav Nyquist-Andreas Athanasiou-Thomas Vanek
Tyler Bertuzzi-Frans Nielsen-Michael Rasmussen
Christoffer Ehn-Luke Glendening-Darren Helm

Danny DeKeyser-Filip Hronek
Joe Hicketts-Libor Sulak
Niklas Kronwall-Nick Jensen

Jimmy Howard

What I’m watching for:

Four games into the Bruins season, Jake DeBrusk has yet to score a goal. He’s yet to pick up an assist either. A minus-one in the plus/minus column, you may think DeBrusk has not played well this year. That’s actually not the case.

DeBrusk has been very good in his four games, he’s just running into some bad luck and the results aren’t there just yet. After three games on the left wing, DeBrusk shifted over to the right side as Nordstrom joined he and Krejci Thursday night. It was the third different line mate in four games for Krejci and DeBrusk.

Once DeBrusk gets that first one, the floodgates should open for him. Going up against a Red Wings team that is currently averaging 3.50 goals-against per game should help DeBrusk. I am sticking with my prediction that DeBrusk scores 30 goals.

What I’m also watching for:

Thomas Vanek has 34 goals in 64 games played against the Bruins, but it feels like 64 goals in 34 games played. Will Vanek strike against the Bruins again?
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