The Boston Bruins continue to get healthier.
Two more skaters will return from injuries Saturday night when the B’s host the Minneosta Wild at TD Garden.
Torey Krug is back after a five-game absence due to an upper-body injury, while Brett Ritchie is back after missing one game due to an infection flaring back up. With Krug back, Urho Vaakanainen was sent down to Providence.
Krug will go back to his spot on the second pairing, with Matt Grzelcyk bumping down to the third duo. Connor Clifton will be a healthy scratch Saturday night, with Steven Kampfer set to play to the right of Grzelcyk.
In an effort to keep the Anders Bjork-Charlie Coyle-Danton Heinen third line together, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is moving Coyle out of his fill-in role as the second-line right wing. But instead of putting Ritchie in that spot, something he’s tried often with little success, the expectation is Chris Wagner will play with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. As a result, Ritchie goes into Wagner’s spot on the fourth line with Joakim Nordstrom and Sean Kuraly.
Ex-Bruin Ryan Donato makes his return to Boston and will skate on Minnesota’s fourth line. He was sent to the Wild at last season’s trade deadline in the deal that brought Coyle to Boston.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Bruins, with Alex Stalock expected to be between the pipes for the visitors.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (14-3-5)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Chris Wagner
Anders Bjork–Charlie Coyle–Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom–Sean Kuraly–Brett Ritchie
Zdeno Chara–Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug–Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk–Steven Kampfer
Jaroslav Halak
MINNESOTA WILD (9-11-2)
Jason Zucker–Eric Staal–Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise–Mikko Koivu–Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway–Joel Eriksson Ek–Luke Kunin
Ryan DOnato–Victor Rask–Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter–Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin–Mathew Dumba
Carson Soucy–Brad Hunt
Alex Stalock
