Bruins making even more lineup changes vs. Panthers

Bruins head coach Marco Sturm is tinkering with his lineup once again.

At this point, this is nothing new for Sturm, especially after a loss. In fact, this will mark the fifth straight time that Sturm has fiddled with his lineup, and with all lineup changes coming following a loss for Boston.

The latest moves from Sturm will once again come with a second-line focus for the B's, too, with Casey Mittelstadt expected to jump back into the Black and Gold lineup after sitting out Sunday's loss in Utah as a healthy scratch.

“I want to see a response," Sturm said when asked what he's looking for out of Mittelstadt in this contest. "He should be all rested and ready to go. He’s a very skilled guy, so I want him to use his skill, too. Not just in the offensive zone, but making plays to use more Pavel Zacha in the middle and more [Viktor Arvidsson] and also on the power play.” 

The Bruins are also making a change to the line itself, with Mittelstadt expected to line up at left wing instead of center, with Zacha playing in the middle and Viktor Arvidsson in his usual spot at right wing. The decision to move Mittelstadt off his usual center spot comes after Mittelstadt was beat cleanly by Gabriel Landeskog on a faceoff en route to a Josh Manson that ultimately held as the game-winning goal in last Saturday's loss in Colorado.

Mittelstadt acknowledged that he's played wing before during his tenure in Buffalo, and said it's a spot he'd be comfortable at. But no matter the position, Mittelstadt knows he needs to give the team more on the ice.

“[Sturm] thinks I need to be better, and I don’t disagree with him," Mittelstadt said following Tuesday's morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. "It is what it is. It's a matter of taking it negatively or positively. I think I've learned at this point in my career, if you take it negatively, it's not going to help you."

Elsewhere in the Boston lineup, the Bruins will also put Jeffrey Viel back into the lineup given the heaviness of the Panthers' bottom six and fourth line. Viel, who has been a scratch for the last two games, made his season debut in Vegas, and recorded four hits and a plus-2 rating in 11:50 of time on ice.

With Mittelstadt and Viel in, the Bruins will scratch Johnny Beecher and Marat Khusnutdinov. Beecher scored in last Saturday's loss to the Avalanche, and Khusnutdinov had an assist in Sunday's loss to the Mammoth but had his pocket picked for what ended up being the game-winning goal against.

The Bruins enter tonight's contest with four straight losses to their name, sure, but the Panthers have also dropped four straight and are coming off a 3-0 loss to the Sabres last Saturday.