The Bruins, down 2-0 in their first-round series with the Hurricanes, have already made it known that it will be Jeremy Swayman who gets the call in Game 3. But the changes won’t stop there for Bruce Cassidy’s squad, with winger Chris Wagner and defenseman Mike Reilly slated to jump into their first action of the 2022 postseason.
In the case of Reilly, the return to play will come with Hampus Lindholm ruled out of action. Lindholm, who exited Game 2 after taking a nasty hit from the Hurricanes’ Andrei Svechnikov, is dealing with an upper-body injury, but was able to travel home to Boston with the Bruins following Wednesday’s loss.
Reilly, who has extensive experience with both Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, will begin his night to the left of McAvoy on the Black and Gold’s top pairing. That will reunite Matt Grzelcyk with Carlo on Boston’s second pairing.
The 6-foot-2 Reilly totaled four goals and 17 points in 70 games during the regular season.
Up front, Wagner’s move back into action will slot him into his once-familiar fourth-line right wing slot, and with Wagner, who totaled 11 hits and drew a penalty in his only NHL appearance of the year, getting the nod over Anton Blidh.
“I liked Wags’ game up in Toronto and we’ve seen him in the playoffs [and] sort of the grit he can bring,” Cassidy said of going with Wagner over Blidh. “Being first on the forecheck, his physicality is really what’s made a name for him in this league. If he can get there on time tonight on some of those, we could certainly use it. We want to play behind their D.”
The move to Wagner will come at the expense of Trent Frederic, who logged a team-low 6:00 in Wednesday’s Game 2 loss. Frederic’s actually logged just 2:52 more time on ice than penalty minutes assessed through two games (16:52 of ice time compared to 14 minutes of penalties), and his Game 2 interference penalty was a costly one for the Bruins.
“Freddy’s got himself into penalty trouble, and I’m not sure it’s all warranted, but at the end of the day that’s where he’s at right now,” Cassidy said. “We’ve talked to him about how he has to impact the game, we gotta get that message across.”
And with Frederic out and Wagner slotted into a fourth-line role, Tomas Nosek will move up to the left of Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith on Boston’s third line.
“I’m looking for those two other guys that have been there together to drive the line, and hopefully he benefits from it,” Cassidy said of his new-look third line. “He’s been around some pucks at the front of the net. He had one of our best chances in Game 1, Game 2 a couple were just outside his reach. He’s getting to the dirty areas.”
This is the first time that the Bruins have returned home in a 2-0 series hole since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
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