Ryan Donato To Make His NHL Debut Versus Blue Jackets

7 p.m. ET
TD Garden – Boston, MA
TV: NESN
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Season Series/Schedule
Date      Game                                    GWG
10/30     BOS 3 @ CBJ 4 SO            Artemi Panarin
12/18     CBJ 2 @ BOS 7                   Charlie McAvoy
3/19       CBJ @ BOS

Team Leaders
Bruins                                                                   Blue Jackets
Brad Marchand, 73          Points                   Artemi Panarin, 63
Brad Marchand, 30          Goals                    Artemi Panarin, 21
Brad Marchand, 43          Assists                  Artemi Panarin, 42

You can bet there will be a few fans pulling their old Milan Lucic sweaters, grabbing some duct tape and a sharpie and turning them into Donato ones. 

Ryan Donato will make his NHL debut today and will wear number 17.  He will jump onto the third line with Noel Acciari and his Olympic teammate Brian Gionta.

Donato is getting a look due the injuries up front to Anders Bjork, Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk and David Backes who will all be out of action versus the Blue Jackets tonight. 

A win tonight will get the Bruins one step closer to clinching a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It will also pull them to within two points of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.

The Jackets enter tonight in the middle of the dogfight for one of the final playoff spots in the east.  The currently hold the first wild card spot and are just two points out of third place in the Metro Division and six points behind the Washington Capitals for first place. 

Columbus has been one of the hottest teams in the league.  They have surged up the standings thanks to a seven-game winning streak and a 8-2-0 record over their last 10 games.

Probable Bruins Lineup
FORWARDS
Brad Marchand - Riley Nash - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - David Krejci - Rick Nash
Ryan Donato - Noel Acciari - Brian Gionta
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Tommy Wingels

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Nick Holden - Adam McQuaid
Matt Grzelcyk - Kevan Miller

GOALTENDER
Tuukka Rask (30-11-4, 2.29 GAA, .919 save %, 3 SO)

INJURY REPORT
LW-Anders Bjork (shoulder) out, C-Patrice Bergeron (foot) out, D-Charlie McAvoy (MCL) out, LW-Jake DeBrusk (upper-body) out, D-Zdeno Chara (undisclosed) out, RW-David Backes (knee) out

Probable Blue Jackets Lineup
FORWARDS
Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Sonny Milano - Nick Foligno - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner - Alex Wennberg - Thomas Vanek
Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Mark Letestu

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Ian Cole - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara

GOALTENDER
Sergei Bobrovsky (32-21-5, 2.41 GAA, .921 save %, 4 SO)

INJURY REPORT
None