Need to Know: Bruins vs. Lightning

BOSTON –– The Boston Bruins’ postseason destiny is in their own hands on Saturday at TD Garden when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 12:30 p.m. puck drop.

“Hopefully, it is going to be a great day for the Boston Bruins. The guys deserve everything. Playing that great all season long. Hopefully, we get rewarded today, this afternoon,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “We are going to try to do everything in our power to make this happen.”

If the B’s win in any fashion, they will clinch a spot in the 2026 NHL playoffs. The Lightning have already secured a playoff berth; they sit in third place in the Atlantic Division with 102 points. The Bruins are in the first wild-card slot with 96 points. Saturday marks the fourth and final time the teams will meet this regular season.

“High-end skill and players in their lineup,” Sturm said of Tampa Bay. “Overall, we’ve done a really good job; we just didn’t finish it [against them]. A lot of times it’s 40 minutes; the other game was 50 minutes. We’ve just got to make sure we’re going to put 60 minutes here tonight, because they’re that good.”

Mikey Eyssimont enters the lineup for the first time since April 4. The former Tampa Bay forward will skate on the third line alongside Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, in place of Alex Steeves. Eyssimont has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) through 53 games. There are no other changes, Sturm said.

Wait, There’s More

• Jeremy Swayman will start in net for Boston. The goaltender last played on Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Swayman has a 2.77 goals against average and a .906 save percentage through 53 games.

• Morgan Geekie posted a hat trick on Tuesday. The 27-year-old forward leads the Bruins with 37 goals this season, 12 of which have come on the power play, which is another team-high. Geekie remains on the first line with Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak.

• Charlie McAvoy has a career-high 60 points (11 goals, 49 assists) this season while averaging a team-high 24:28 of ice time per night. The defenseman is on the first pair with Jonathan Aspirot. McAvoy was named the Bruins’ nominee for the 2026 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, as selected by the Boston chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) on Wednesday.

Opposing View

• The Lightning are coming off a 2-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at Bell Centre. Darren Raddysh had Tampa Bay’s only goal, and netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves. The Lightning have lost their last three games ahead of the matchup in Boston.

• Nikita Kucherov enters Saturday on a five-game point streak; he has three goals and four assists through that stretch. The 32-year-old forward leads Tampa Bay with 128 points (43 goals, 85 assists) through 73 games. Kucherov is projected to be on the first line with Jake Guentzel and Anthony Cirelli. He is also on the first power-play unit.

• Raddysh, who leads all Lightning defensemen with 70 points, has two goals and two assists in his last four games. The 30-year-old blueliner is expected to skate on the first pair with J.J. Moser. Raddysh has the seventh-most points of all NHL defensemen this season.