The Boston Bruins’ bottom six forward group will have a different look Saturday night.
In a much-anticipated tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden, B’s head coach Bruce Cassidy did some line shuffling in hopes of providing a jolt to Boston’s anemic offense beyond the first line.
Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork will occupy the wings on the third line, while Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson — fresh off a call-up from Providence on Friday — will center the group. It will be a young trio that should provide some energy, if nothing else, with Heinen being the most senior of the line at 23 years old.
With the third unit slightly revamped, David Backes will slide down to the fourth line in place of Noel Acciari. Backes had been centering the third line, but given his age and style of play a fourth-line wing spot likely is more conducive for him at this juncture.
Jaroslav Halak will start in goal for the Bruins, while Frederik Andersen gets the nod in net for Toronto. With Tuukka Rask on leave, Dan Vladar will be Boston’s backup netminder.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Saturday night’s Bruins-Maple Leafs game.
BOSTON BRUINS (8-5-2)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak
Joakim Nordstrom — David Krejci — Jake DeBrusk
Danton Heinen — Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson — Anders Bjork
Chris Wagner — Sean Kuraly — David Backes
Zdeno Chara — Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug — John Moore
Matt Grzelcyk — Steven Kampfer
Jaroslav Halak
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (11-5-0)
Zach Hyman — John Tavares — Mitch Marner
Patrick Marleau — Nazem Kadri — Kasperi Kapanen
Andreas Johnsson — Par Lindholm — Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis — Frederik Gauthier — Josh Leivo
Morgan Rielly — Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner — Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott — Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
