BOSTON — Maybe more so than at any other point this season, the Boston Bruins are healthy.
Finally.
Ravaged with injuries from wire to wire thus far, the B’s will get three important players back for Thursday night’s tilt with the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden.
Zdeno Chara, who has missed 19 games with an MCL injury, will be back and skating on the top defensive pairing. Also returning on the blue line is Kevan Miller, who will return to the third pairing following a 13-game absence due to a throat injury. Then there’s second-line winger Jake DeBrusk, who will be back in action after a being sidelined for nine games with a concussion.
Of course, there’s a caveat. Chara will be skating alongside Matt Grzelcyk, as Charlie McAvoy will be scratched Thursday due to a lower-body injury that was suffered when he blocked a shot Sunday in a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Fortunately for the Bruins, he’s not expected to miss extended time, meaning they could have their full roster available fairly soon.
With DeBrusk back in the fold, the top six (mostly) is going back to the way it was, with Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand-David Pastrnak trio getting reunited on the top line. David Krejci will center the second unit, flanked by DeBrusk and Danton Heinen.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the B’s, while the Devils will counter with 22-year-old rookie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Thursday night’s Devils-Bruins game.
BOSTON BRUINS (20-13-4)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen–David Krejci–Jake DeBrusk
Ryan Donato–Colby Cave–David Backes
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara–Matt Grzelcyk
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
John Moore–Kevan Miller
Jaroslav Halak
NEW JERSEY DEVILS (12-16-7)
Jesper Bratt — Nico Hischier — Kyle Palmieri
John Quenneville — Travis Zajac — Blake Coleman
Miles Wood — Pavel Zacha — Stefan Noesen
Brian Boyle — Brett Seney — Drew Stafford
Andy Greene — Damon Severson
Steven Santini — Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher — Ben Lovejoy
Mackenzie Blackwood
