Connor McDavid, arguably the best player in the NHL, leads the Edmonton Oilers into Boston on Thursday night for their only appearance at TD Garden during the regular season.
The Bruins are one of three teams McDavid has not scored a goal against, although he has tallied seven assists in four games versus the B’s.
McDavid will try to keep up with the Bruins’ top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. This line dominated the Ottawa Senators in the Bruins’ 6-3 win on Monday. Bergeron had a hat trick, Marchand tallied three assists and Pastrnak scored two goals with two assists.
Jaroslav Halak will start in net for Boston. The veteran goalie won his first start with the Bruins last Thursday in a 4-0 shutout of the Buffalo Sabres.
A win for the Bruins would be their third in a row.
Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (2-1-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Joakim Nordstrom–David Krejci–Jake DeBrusk
Danton Heinen–David Backes–Anders Bjork
Chris Wagner–Sean Kuraly–Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
John Moore–Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk–Kevan Miller
Jaroslav Halak
EDMONTON OILERS (0-1-0)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins–Connor McDavid–Ty Rattie
Milan Lucic–Leon Draisaitl–Kailer Yamamoto
Tobias Rieder–Jujhar Khaira–Zack Kassian
Drake Caggiula–Ryan Strome–Jesse Puljujarvi
Oscar Klefbom–Adam Larsson
Evan Bouchard–Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse–Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
