BOSTON — The Boston Bruins will look to begin the new year on a high note when they welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to TD Garden on Thursday night.
The B’s are coming off a tough 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on New Year’s Eve, while the Blue Jackets are riding an 11-game point streak.
Boston will be getting some reinforcements back both on the blueline and up front. Torey Krug will return to the lineup after missing the last three games with an upper-body injury sustained in a 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals. David Krejci, meanwhile, returns to his second-line center spot after missing Tuesday’s contest with a lower-body injury.
Charlie McAvoy, who also was injured during the Capitals game, is a game-time decision. The defenseman has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury. If McAvoy can’t go, Steven Kampfer will play.
Tuukka Rask will be between the pipes, opposite Elvis Merzlikins.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (24-7-10)
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk-David Krejci-Charlie Coyle
Anders Bjork-Sean Kuraly-Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom-Par Lindholm-Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug-Brandon Carlo
John Moore-Matt Grzelcyk
Tuukka Rask
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (18-14-8)
Gustav Nyquist-Boone Jenner-Nick Foligno
Nathan Gerbe-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Kevin Stenlund
Sonny Milano-Alexander Wennberg-Eric Robinson
Ryan MacInnis-Riley Nash-Jakob Lilja
Zach Werenski-Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov-David Savard
Scott Harrington-Dean Kukan
Elvis Merzlikins
