Bruins make significant lineup changes for crucial Game 3

The Boston Bruins have to win Game 3 of their first-round series versus the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. While Carolina outscored Boston 10-3 in the first two games, head coach Bruce Boudreau believes the score does not fully reflect how close the Bruins are to match the Hurricanes’ fire power.

“I don’t think the scores reflect how close the games were,” Cassidy told TSN 1200 Ottawa Friday morning. “So, that’s a positive for our group. It’s not like we’ve been dominated in every area. We’ve been dominated on the scoreboard certainly, so we got to fix our shooting percentages and get there’s down. Other than that, our game is not bad to honest with you. We got to finish. Hopefully get a lead and put them on their heels a little bit.”

To do that, Cassidy knows he needs to adjust his lineup and have young players step into leadership roles. That might be why 23-year-old rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman gets the start n Game 3. He took part in 41 games this season, posting a 2.41 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage with three shutouts.

Cassidy sees how Charlie McAvoy has stepped into a leadership, but won’t be able to count on the team’s top acquisition of the trade deadline in Hampus Lindholm. He will miss Game 3 after taking a massive hit from Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov in Game 2.

Cassidy is hopeful Lindholm will be ready for Game 4, but for now Mike Reilly will enter into the lineup.

“It’s a tough spot to get thrown into in a middle of a playoff series, very intense, but Mike is a professional. He should be ready to go,” added Cassidy.

We all know how the Bruins must win Game 3 in this best of seven series. Only four teams in NHL history have battled back to win a series after being down 3-0 and Boston would prefer to get an edge now.

Let’s see how Swayman and the rest of the crew does tonight in Boston.