After losses in their first two contests, the Bruins will look to pick up their first win of the season Monday afternoon when they host the defending Eastern Conference champions at TD Garden.  The Lightning have gotten of to a good start in 2015-16, winning their first two contests including Saturday’s 4-1 victory Saturday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara skated with his teammates on Sunday and was deemed questionable for today. On Sunday the Bruins waived defense Matt Irwin who was a minus-four through two games. Waving Irwin is a good sign that Chara will return on Monday. After taking an inadvertent hit to head on Thursday, Brad Marchand is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Puckdrop: 1:00PM
Records: Boston 0-2 (0pts) Tampa Bay 2-0 (4pts)
TV/Radio: NESN/ 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: TD Garden

Bruins projected lines:

Loui Eriksson-Patrice Bergeron-Brett Connolly
Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Chris Kelly-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo-Max Talbot-Jonas Kemppainen

Zdeno Chara-Colin Miller
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow-Kevan Miller

Jonas Gustavsson

Lightning projected lines:

Jonathan Drouin-Steven Stamkos-Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filppula-Erik Condra
Brian Boyle-Vladislav Namestnikov-J.T. Brown

Victor Hedman-Anton Stralman
Matt Carle-Jason Garrisson
Braydon Coburn-Andrej Sustr

Ben Bishop

Matchup to watch: Bruins defense against Bolts’ top-six

Steven Stamkos anchors a deep group of forwards for the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Photo credit: Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

The Tampa Bay Lightning boast as good of a top-six as any other team in league. Their combination of size, skill and speed is more than enough to give other teams fits and that’s exactly what they’ll do against a poor Bruins defense. After two rough outings, the young Bruins defense are looking for a bounce back performance. Although tough, Monday’s matinee is a perfect time for that happen. The Bruins defense may get a boost as Zdeno Chara has been upgraded to questionable for today’s contest.

Storyline to watch: Will Chara play?

Captain Zdeno Chara has been upgraded to questionable and is expected to make his season debut Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo credit: Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

Chara has not seen game action since a preseason contest against the New York Rangers on September 24, but the Bruins’ captain is expected to make his 2015-16 season debut Monday after missing the Bruins first two games of the season. With Matt Irwin waived on Sunday, a spot on the Bruins’ blue-line has now opened. The Bruins blue-line needs help and Chara will be a big step towards getting back on track.