It’ll be an early start for the Boston Bruins on Saturday as they look to sweep the New Jersey Devils in their two-game series to open the season.
Following a 3-2 shootout victory for the Bruins to open the season Thursday night, the two sides are back at it once more at Prudential Center for matinee.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on Friday hinted at some potential lineup changes based on the availability of Craig Smith, who missed the opener with a lower-body injury.
And Smith should be in, according to Cassidy on Saturday morning. He will slot in on the third line with Nick Ritchie and Charlie Coyle.
With Smith back, Anders Bjork bumps up to the first line right wing, while Trent Frederic holds on to the fourth line left wing spot.
Jack Studnicka will be a healthy scratch. There also are no changes expected on defense.
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff does not talk about the lineup or any potential changes before a game, so we’ll operate under the impression New Jersey will keep things the same as Thursday — though that’s obviously subject to change.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Bruins. He’ll likely be opposed by Mackenzie Blackwood.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Bruins-Devils.
BOSTON BRUINS (1-0-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Anders Bjork
Jake DeBrusk–David Krejci–Ondrej Kase
Nick Ritchie–Charlie Coyle–Craig Smith
Trent Frederic–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner
Jeremy Lauzon–Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk–Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril–Kevan Miller
Jaroslav Halak
NEW JERSEY DEVILS (0-0-1)
Yegor Harangovich–Jack Hughes–Kyle Palmieri
Andreas Johnsson–Pavel Zacha–Nikita Gusev
Jesper Boqvist–Travis Zajac–Miles Wood
Janne Kuokkanen–Michael McLeod–Nathan Bastian
Ryan Murray–P.K. Subban
Dmitry Kulikov–Damon Severson
Ty Smith–Matt Tennyson
Mackenzie Blackwood
