Berkshire Bank Hockey Night In New England: Projected Bruins-Devils Lines, Pairings

BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron makes his season debut Thursday night as the Bruins welcome the New Jersey Devils to TD Garden for their home opener.

Bergeron missed the first three games of the season with a lower body injury. He’s expected to return to his normal center spot on the first line alongside wingers Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

Young defenseman Joe Morrow also is expected to make his 2016-17 debut Thursday night. He skated alongside Torey Krug during drills at the morning skate.

If the forward lines from morning skate are what we see at game time, Ryan Spooner will be a healthy scratch. The young center has struggled in the faceoff dot and hasn’t given the B’s much offensive production (one assist) at even strength.

The Devils bolstered their scoring depth in a major way during the offseason by acquiring former No. 1 overall draft pick Taylor Hall in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers. The superstar left winger scored both goals in the Devils’ 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams.

BOSTON BRUINS (2-1-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen–David Krejci–David Backes
Matt Beleskey–Riley Nash–Jimmy Hayes
Tim Schaller–Dominic Moore–Noel Acciari

Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Joe Morrow–Torey Krug
John-Michael Liles–Colin Miller

Tuukka Rask

NEW JERSEY DEVILS (1-1-1)
Taylor Hall–Travis Zajac–P.A. Parenteau
Michael Cammalleri–Adam Henrique–Kyle Palmieri
Beau Bennett–Pavel Zacha–Devante Smith-Pelly
Reid Boucher–Vernon Fiddler–Jacob Josefson

Andy Greene–Damon Severson
John Moore–Ben Lovejoy
Yohann Auvitu–Kyle Quincey

Cory Schneider

Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images