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

The Boston Bruins look to get back in the win column after two consecutive losses at the hands of the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers as their Canadian road trip continues Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks.

This is the first meeting between Boston and Vancouver this season. The Canucks are looking to bounce back from a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, while the B’s try to get their first win of the four-game road trip.

Jaroslav Halak will be Boston’s netminder for the second straight game. The 33-year-old saved 19 of the 22 shots Edmonton put up in Boston’s 3-2 overtime loss Thursday night. Ryan Donato will be a healthy scratch for the Bruins, while Anders Bjork will play on the right side of David Backes on the third line.

The defensive pairings look a tad different than usual with Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller out of the lineup due to injuries. Urho Vaakanainen, the 18th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, will make his NHL debut after being recalled earlier Saturday from the Providence Bruins.

Here are the projected lineups for both teams:

BOSTON BRUINS (4-2-1)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen–David Krejci–Jake DeBrusk
Joakim Nordstrom–David Backes–Anders Bjork
Chris Wagner–Sean Kuraly–Noel Acciari

Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
John Moore–Stephen Kampher
Matt Grzelcyk–Urho Vaakanainen

Jaroslav Halak

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (4-3-0)
Nikolay Goldobin–Bo Horvat–Brock Boeser
Sven Baertschi–Adam Gaudette–Jake Virtanen
Antoine Roussel–Brandon Sutter–Loui Eriksson
Tim Schaller–Markus Granlund–Tyler Motte

Alexander Edler–Christopher Tanev
Ben Hutton– Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot– Erik Gudbranson

Jacob Markstrom