Bruins opening night lineup projection 2.0: Where things stand as preseason ends

And with that, the Boston Bruins' preseason is over. Yes, already. Four games in less than a week, concluding with a 3-2 overtime loss in Washington on Friday, and now it's on to the regular-season opener Tuesday night against the New York Rangers.

Before that, though, general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Marco Sturm have to finalize their initial 23-man roster before 5 p.m. Monday. Oh, and they also still have to make that captain announcement Sweeney promised.

For now, let's focus on the roster. The Bruins have some interesting decisions to make, both in terms of who makes the team and in terms of who's playing where on Tuesday.

Here's my second and final opening night lineup projection:

FORWARDS (13)
JJ Peterka - Elias Lindholm - David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt - Pavel Zacha - Morgan Geekie
James Hagens - Fraser Minten - Marat Khusnutdinov
Tanner Jeannot - Sean Kuraly - Mark Kastelic
Extra forward: Mikey Eyssimont
Injured reserve: Matt Poitras

Sturm moved Peterka to the top line in Tuesday's preseason game and that trio immediately created several quality scoring chances. Friday night was a more inconsistent outing, but they at least came to life in the third period again after a quiet first two periods. Peterka set up Pastrnak for a power-play goal, and those two have shown some exciting flashes together. Whether Lindholm is the right center for them remains a real question, but Sturm seems determined to at least start the season with him there.

The second line has looked very good all camp, whether it's been Peterka or Geekie with Zacha and Mittelstadt. Zacha was the Bruins' best player Friday night and set up Geekie to start Boston's third-period comeback. This was also the Bruins' most consistent line last season, when it was Viktor Arvidsson with Zacha and Mittelstadt. Those two enter the year with questions around their futures, as both could be unrestricted free agents after the season, but for now they seem poised to pick up where they left off last year.

The third line, aka the "kid line," aka the "cub line," is the one everyone's excited about, and for good reason. Hagens, Minten and Khusnutdinov looked very good together most of training camp, including in their first preseason game together on Sunday. They weren't as good Friday night, to be fair, and got pinned in their own zone several times against a big, heavy Capitals team. That shouldn't dim the excitement too much, though. I still expect Sturm to give this trio a look together in the regular season.

Last year's fourth line of Jeannot, Kuraly and Kastelic actually hasn't played together at all this preseason, as Sturm has mixed and matched his depth forwards. Kuraly had a pretty rough preseason that may have left the door ajar for a younger center. Poitras had an excellent first preseason game on Sunday; unfortunately, that ended up being his only preseason game. He suffered a lower-body injury in practice on Tuesday and hasn't played or practiced since. Season-opening injured reserve would be an option if he's not healed up by Monday afternoon.

Dans Locmelis, another young center, had a very good training camp overall, but was pretty quiet Friday night. He might have needed just a little bit better of a finish to displace the veteran Kuraly. Keeping Locmelis as the 13th forward wouldn't make much sense, as he needs to play. He doesn't require waivers to be sent down to Providence, where he would likely be the P-Bruins' No. 1 center and play big minutes in all situations.

If Poitras is healthy, he's probably the 13th forward, with a good opportunity to push Kuraly for playing time. If he ends up on IR, Eyssimont may very well be the beneficiary. He scored twice on Tuesday and had a better preseason overall than other bubble wingers like Alex Steeves and Lukas Reichel.

DEFENSE (8)
Hampus Lindholm - Will Borgen
Nikita Zadorov - Connor Clifton
Jonathan Aspirot - Mason Lohrei
Extra D: Frederic Brunet, Charlie McAvoy (suspended)

This whole group is a pretty big question mark for the six games McAvoy will be suspended. Borgen had a good preseason and looks like a nice addition. He played exclusively with Lindholm, so I have to assume Sturm plans on keeping them together into the regular season. Same goes for Zadorov and Clifton, who have taken just about every rep together all camp.

Personally, I think Brunet had a better camp than both Aspirot and Lohrei, and should probably be in the opening night lineup. But oddly, Brunet has yet to be paired with anyone other than McAvoy or AHLer Max Guenette. Maybe that changes Sunday or Monday in practice (Saturday is an off day). The Aspirot-Lohrei pair was shaky at best Friday, but Sturm still might defer to two guys who spent all of last season in Boston over Brunet.

The Bruins waived Jordan Harris on Friday with the intention of sending him to Providence if he clears. Henri Jokiharju is still around, but he fell out of favor down the stretch last season and hasn't done anything I've seen in camp to get back in favor.

GOALIES (2)
Jeremy Swayman
Michael DiPietro

This has already been decided, as Swayman and DiPietro are the only two goalies left in camp. Swayman is coming off a Vezina finalist season and is the unquestioned No. 1 again, in line for 55-60 starts as long as he stays healthy.

DiPietro is coming off back-to-back AHL Goalie of the Year seasons, prompting the Bruins to trade away Joonas Korpisalo to make room for him. He'll still need to prove himself in the NHL, but he was excellent in his two preseason starts and gave the Bruins no reason to even consider any alternatives.