BOSTON — The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in Boston, but they don’t won’t have the full roster that’s helped them tie for the Atlantic Division lead through the first few weeks of the season.
The Leafs come in a little thin down the middle, as both Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland are hurt and out for the foreseeable future. That’s led Toronto to shake things up at the center position, most notably moving James van Riemsdyk to the middle and center the team’s first line. He’s set to skate in between Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel.
Kessel is off to a fantastic start this season. The former Bruins forward has already scored 10 goals and added nine assists through 16 games. He’s looking to keep that going on Saturday night against the Bruins in the two teams’ first meeting since last year’s first-round playoff series. Kessel broke out in that seven-game series with four goals and two assists in what was ultimately a series loss for the Leafs.
Here are the projected lines for Saturday’s game.
Bruins (9-5-1, 19 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Loui Eriksson
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg — Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Maple Leafs (11-5-0, 22 points)
Joffrey Lupul — James van Riemsdyk — Phil Kessel
Mason Raymond — Nazem Kadri — David Clarkson
Troy Bodie — Jay McClement — Nikolai Kulemin
Frazer McLaren — Jerred Smithson — Morgan Rielly
Carl Gunnarsson — Dion Phaneuf
Mark Fraser — Paul Ranger
Cody Franson — Jake Gardiner
