Coyle will start the game on the third line on the wing with Matt Poitras, who returns at center and Trent Frederic. Vinni Lettieri will play his first game in Boston this season in Coyle’s regular spot with Elias Lindholm and Brad Marchand. Oliver Wahlstrom will sit out with Coyle available.

Tim Stutzle's shootout goal rallied the Ottawa Senators to a 6-5 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon. Leevi Merilainen, who made 23 saves, turned away all three Bruins skaters in the shootout.

If he can’t go, the Bruins will be down several veterans. In addition to Hampus Lindholm, who is already out, Boston out both Charlie McAvoy and Mark Kastelic on injured reserve on Tuesday.

The Bruins called up Matt Poitras from Providence on Tuesday, but the team also placed Charlie McAvoy on injured reserve.

The Bruins are already shorthanded in this contest, as Charlie McAvoy and Mark Kastelic were placed on injured reserve earlier today. In addition, Hampus Lindholm is still not ready to return to the lineup. Thus, not having another key player in Coyle against the Lightning would be tough for Boston.

The Boston Bruins are playing the Ottawa Senators this afternoon in a very important contest. The Bruins are only ahead of the Senators by one point for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference,

The Bruins are hoping that playing the Lightning, a team they recently lost to (a 4-1 setback last Thursday night in Tampa), will help elevate the urgency level.

Matt Poitras looked more like a player who captured the imagination of fans last year than the one who struggled through 14 games this season.

With 46 games played, the Bruins hang onto the second Wild Card spot by one point. They've won their last two games but dropped six straight before that to land themselves in a position of great uncertainty with the trade deadline less than two months away.

In a wildly entertaining and raucous game, the Bruins had their most emotional win of the season in their grasp only to cough up a two-goal lead late in the final 3:13 of regulation with the goalie pulled and lose in a shootoout, 6-5.

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The Senators are just one point behind the Bruins for the final wildcard spot in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference as the teams face off at the Canadian Tire Centre. That’s why this is a big one.