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

The Boston Bruins look to remain undefeated in 2019 when they welcome the Buffalo Sabres to TD Garden on Saturday for an Atlantic Division matchup.

The two teams each have 50 points, so a win for either side will be impactful in the standings. This will be the fourth and final time the clubs meet in the regular season. Buffalo will look to even the season series 2-2 after the Black and Gold won their most recent matchup last Saturday in comeback fashion. A win for Boston also would make it four straight.

Boston will get David Backes back after he served a three-game suspension. The veteran forward will return to the second line to play on David Krejci’s right side. Tuukka Rask will get the start between the pipes for the B’s opposite Carter Hutton.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for both teams:

BOSTON BRUINS (23-14-4)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk — David Krejci — David Backes
Ryan Donato — Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson — Danton Heinen
Sean Kuraly — Noel Acciari — Chris Wagner

Zdeno Chara — Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug — John Moore
Matt Grzelcyk — Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

BUFFALO SABRES (22-13-6)
Jeff Skinner — Evan Rodrigues — Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary — Vladimir Sobotka — Tage Thompson
Remi Elie — Casey Mittelstadt — Jason Pominville
C.J. Smith — Johan Larsson — Kyle Okposo

Jake McCabe — Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella — Rasmus Dahlin
Lawrence Pilut — Zach Bogosian

Carter Hutton