It looks like we may know which member of the Boston Bruins line up will be stepping out of the line up tonight with Boston Bruins forward David Backes stepping into the line up.
The Bruins are of course about to fave off against the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 2 of their first round series in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and it is a huge game for the Bruins when you consider that they lost the first game of the series at home. Obviously with that in mind you expect that the Bruins will be deploying all of their best weapons this evening but unfortunately it appears as though veteran forward Marcus Johansson will be unable to answer the call this evening. It is unclear at this time if Johansson is out due to an injury but he was not out on the ice for pregame warmups this evening and with news earlier today that Backes was going to be in Game 2 it seems almost certain that Johansson will be out tonight.
As I stated we do not know the reason for Johansson's absence from the line up this evening but Boston Bruins insider Joe Haggerty appeared to hint at the fact that this could be injury related when announcing the news. Haggerty pointed to a big hit that Johansson took during Game 1 of the series and although Johansson would remain in that game the lingering effects of that hit could have pushed the Bruins towards going with Backes tonight.
As for the Toronto Maple Leafs it appears as though that team will be going with the exact same line up that they had in Game 1 of this series, no surprise given that they came away with a big win over a team that has given them nightmares in recent Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The only oddity in the Toronto Maple Leafs line up at this time is the team's reliance on backup goaltender Garret Sparks instead of the man who had seemingly claimed that spot in Michael Hutchinson. Hutchinson has been out of the lineup for what has been described as "personal reasons" believed to be linked to the upcoming birth of his child.
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