Bruins-Lightning Game 4 Lineup: Cassidy abandons the seven-D experiment
By Matt Dolloff, 985TheSportsHub.com
Bruce Cassidy’s copycat experiment with seven defensemen lasted exactly one game. One ugly, disastrous game.
Connor Clifton is back in the lineup for Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. It’s essentially a must-win situation for a Bruins team that hasn’t inspired any confidence that it could win three games in a row, should it go down 3-1 in the series. Clifton goes back in for the two blue liners that replaced him in Game 3, Jeremy Lauzon and John Moore.
As for the return of the 12th forward, Karson Kuhlman gets the nod on Saturday. He slots into the right wing spot on Charlie Coyle’s line. His skill set is a good fit to play alongside Coyle, but he’ll need to finish in order to justify keeping him in the lineup over a candidate like Jack Studnicka.
Even with just solid forechecking and minimized mistakes with the puck, Kuhlman could be a noticeable upgrade over the struggling Anders Bjork.
Karson Kuhlman in action during the game between the Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports)
Here are the full lines and defensive pairings for Game 4 of Bruins-Lightning:
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk – David Krejci – Ondrej Kase
Nick Ritchie – Charlie Coyle – Karson Kuhlman
Joakim Nordstrom – Par Lindholm – Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara – Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Clifton
Jaroslav Halak will start in goal after exiting early during Game 3.
Matt Dolloff is a digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff or send him a nasty email at [email protected].
