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

The Boston Bruins once again are shorthanded on the back end.

Charlie McAvoy will miss his second straight game Thursday when the Bruins face the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

McAvoy is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but is back and Boston and out Thursday (and likely Saturday). Tuukka Rask, who is on the trip with the team, also will be out against the Caps. Jeremy Swayman, who made his NHL debut Tuesday, will start as a result.

As a result, there aren’t expected to be many, if any, lineup changes for the Bruins from Tuesday’s game. Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy did note that Trent Frederic was feeling under the weather, and though it was not COVID-related, it might keep him out Thursday. In such a case, Greg McKegg, Zach Senyshyn or Anton Blidh likely would draw in.

For the Capitals, with Vitek Vanecek playing for Washington on Tuesday, they will turn to Ilya Samsonov against the B’s.

Daniel Carr will replace Daniel Sprong on the third line right wing for Washington, as well.

Here are the projected lineups for Thursday’s Bruins-Capitals game:

BOSTON BRUINS (20-10-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–Charlie Coyle–Karson Kuhlman
Trent Frederic–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner

Matt Grzelcyk–Kevan Miller
Jeremy Lauzon–Connor Clifton
Jakub Zboril–Steven Kampfer

Jeremy Swayman

WASHINGTON CAPITALS (25-10-4)
Alex Ovechkin–Evgeny Kuznetsov–T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary–Nicklas Backstrom–Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana–Lars Eller–Daniel Carr
Carl Hagelin–Nic Dowd–Garnet Hathaway

Brendan Dillon–John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov–Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara–Nick Jensen

Ilya Samsonov

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