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

Few undefeated teams remain in the NHL this young season, and that number will decrease Tuesday evening.

The Boston Bruins are set to meet the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, with both teams entering the tilt at 2-0. For Boston, it’ll be the third contest of a four-game road trip to kick off the season.

Early this season, it has been David Backes, Brett Ritchie and Par Lindholm competing for two jobs up front: Third and fourth line right wing. In Saturday’s win over the Arizona Coyotes it was Ritchie and Lindholm skating, but that looks like it might change against Vegas. Judging by morning rushes, it will be Ritchie on the third line and Backes on the fourth, with Lindholm being the odd man out.

Joakim Nordstrom has been cleared to play, but he remains on IR and all but certainly won’t get in until Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Tuukka Rask and Marc-Andre Fleury are expected to be the goaltenders.

Both teams are positioned to be Stanley Cup contenders, so despite the late puck drop back in New England (10 p.m. ET), there’s plenty of reason to burn the midnight oil.

Here are the projected lineups for both teams.

BOSTON BRUINS (2-0-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Karson Kuhlman
Danton Heinen–Charlie Coyle–Brett Ritchie
Chris Wagner–Sean Kuraly–David Backes

Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk–Connor Clifton

Tuukka Rask

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (2-0-0)
Jonathan Marchessault–William Karlsson–Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty–Cody Glass-Mark Stone
Brandon Pirri–Paul Stastny–Valentin Zykov
William Carrier–Tomas Nosek–Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb–Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill–Nick Holden
Nicolas Hague–Deryk Engelland

Marc-Andre Fleury