Berkshire Bank Faceoff: Projected Lines, Pairings For Bruins-Avalanche

The Boston Bruins will play the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night in the team’s final regular-season game before the All-Star break.

Boston’s offense will be bolstered by the return of top-six winger Brad Marchand, who was suspended for the last two games after slew-footing New York Rangers center Derick Brassard last Thursday.

Marchand is expected to return to his normal left wing spot alongside Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith on the Bruins’ second line. Daniel Paille, who filled that spot during Marchand’s suspension, likely will shift down to his normal fourth-line position. Marchand leads the Bruins with 12 goals scored.

The Avalanche made a few changes to their forward group in the offseason, including the free-agent signing of veteran forward Jarome Iginla, who scored 30 goals for the Bruins last season. He ranks second on the Avalanche with 30 points though 47 games.

Tuukka Rask (Boston) versus Semyon Varlamov (Colorado) is the expected goaltender matchup.

Here are the expected lineups for both teams:

BOSTON BRUINS (25-16-6, fourth in Atlantic)

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Craig Cunningham

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

COLORADO AVALANCHE (19-18-10, sixth in Central)

Alex Tanguay-Matt Duchene-Jarome Iginla
Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O’Reilly-Nathan MacKinnon
Cody McLeod-John Mitchell-Dennis Everberg
Maxime Talbot-Marc-Andre Cliche-Daniel Briere

Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson
Nate Guenin-Tyson Barrie
Nick Holden-Brad Stuart

Semyon Varlamov

Thumbnail photo via Marilyn Indahl/USA TODAY Sports Images