The Boston Bruins return to the ice Thursday night to take on the Edmonton Oilers at TD Garden. The Bruins will look to return to their winning ways following an ugly 3-0 defeat in New Jersey against the Devils on Monday.
The two teams head into Thursday night’s game having logged similar seasons thus far. The B’s currently have 44 points, while the Oilers are at 45 points in the Western Conference.
Thursday night will be the first game at TD Garden for Oilers young superstar Connor McDavid. McDavid, who missed last year’s Oilers-Bruins game in Boston due to injury, already has positioned himself as one of the game’s best players in just his second season in the league. He’s currently tied for first in points with 43, and he leads the league in assists with 29. At 19 years old, he is the youngest captain in NHL history.
The TD Garden crowd also will be reunited with old friend Milan Lucic, who is playing in his first season in Edmonton. After playing eight seasons for the B’s, Lucic will be sure to get a nice ovation from the Boston faithful.
Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (20-16-4)
Brad Marchand—Patrice Bergeron—David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner—David Krejci—Frank Vatrano
Tim Schaller—Austin Czarnik—Jimmy Hayes
Anton Blidh—Dominic Moore—Riley Nash
Zdeno Chara—Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug—Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller—Colin Miller
Tuukka Rask
EDMONTON OILERS (19-13-7)
Patrick Maroon—Connor McDavid—Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic—Ryan Nugent-Hopkins—Zack Kassian
Benoit Pouliot—Drake Caggiula—Jordan Eberle
Anton Lander—Mark Letestu—Jesse Puljujarvi
Oscar Klefbom—Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera—Matt Benning
Kris Russell—Eric Gryba
Cam Talbot
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
