Final: Hurricanes 7, Bruins 1 - Beatdown

The Bruins will be back in game action on Tuesday with a matchup against the Hurricanes. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. Follow along for updates from Tuesday’s game.

WHO: Bruins (22-11-2) vs. Hurricanes (25-8-2)
WHEN: 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden
TV:  NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE: NHL.com

PROJECTED LINEUP

BOSTON

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Craig Smith
Taylor Hall -- Erik Haula -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- Charlie Coyle -- Oskar Steen
Anton Blidh -- Tomas Nosek -- Curtis Lazar

Matt Grzelcyk-- Charlie McAvoy
Urho Vaakanainen -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton

Tuukka Rask
Linus Ullmark 

Scratched: Jack Ahcan, Tyler Lewington
Injured: John Moore (upper body), Trent Frederic (upper body), Jakub Zboril (torn ACL), Nick Foligno (lower body)
COVID-19 protocol: Mike Reilly

CAROLINA

Teuvo Teravainen -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov -- Vincent Trocheck -- Nino Niederreiter
Steven Lorentz -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin -- Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith -- Ian Cole

Frederik Andersen
Jack LaFontaine

Scratched: Ethan Bear
Injured: Antti Raanta (upper body)
COVID-19 protocol: Martin Necas

PREGAME NOTES

Speaking earlier Tuesday morning, Bruce Cassidy acknowledged that Matt Grzelcyk was cleared from COVID protocols — adding that the fleet-footed blueliner would likely be cleared to play in Boston’s anticipated heavyweight bout with the Carolina Hurricanes later that night. 

Grzelcyk’s return stands as good news for Boston, but it also created a messy logjam on the left side of Boston’s D corps, with the B’s already performing well with Mike Reilly, Derek Forbort and a thriving Urho Vaakanainen in place. 

So what was the next domino to fall? 

Vaakanainen to the bench? Perhaps the 2017 first-round pick could bump Connor Clifton out of his third-pairing role, although that would force Vaakanainen to play on his weak side. 

Cassidy was noncommittal when asked of his corresponding roster reshuffle. We got our reason why just a few hours later.

Boston’s D corps took another hit on Tuesday afternoon, with the B’s announcing just a few hours ahead of puck drop that Mike Reilly was entering COVID protocols. Reilly stands as the fourth B’s defenseman to enter protocols over the last two weeks — joining Forbort, Clifton and Grzelcyk. 

It’s brutal timing for Reilly, who put together one of his best performances in some time on Saturday against the Predators (one goal, 21:10 TOI) and has started to settle into a groove on a second D pairing next to Brandon Carlo. 

But in the short term, Reilly’s absence does seem to make things a bit easier for Cassidy when it comes to both inserting Grzelcyk back into the lineup without having to penalize a promising young talent in Vaakanainen who seems to be turning a corner up in the pro ranks. 

---

The Bruins will retire Willie O’Ree’s No. 22 jersey and raise it up to the TD Garden rafters during a pregame ceremony on Tuesday night. 

Tuukka Rask will get the start in net for Boston. 

The Hurricanes will be without Martin Necas against the Bruins after the team placed him in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol on Monday. The center is Carolina's fifth-leading scorer with 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) on the season.

LIVE UPDATES