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

The Boston Bruins have returned home intent on avenging their previous result against the Buffalo Sabres.

The teams will face off Thursday night at TD Garden in the seventh of their eight meetings in the 2020-21 NHL season. The Bruins had won 10 consecutive games over the Sabres until last Friday when Buffalo topped Boston 6-4.

After being a healthy scratch in the Bruins’ last game, Jake DeBrusk could return to replace Craig Smith on the second line. Smith is dealing with a COVID-testing issue, and his availability won’t be known until closer to game time.

Trent Frederic will remain in the Bruins lineup on the fourth line, where he reentered as part of a larger shuffling. Charlie Coyle stays on the third line, opposite Nick Ritchie, and Sean Kuraly will remain their center.

Tuukka Rask will be in net for the Bruins. Jaroslav Halak will be the backup.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET. Watch Bruins-Sabres on NESN+, with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 p.m.

Here are the projected lineups for the teams.

BOSTON BRUINS (28-14-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–David Krejci–Jake DeBrusk
Nick Ritchie–Sean Kuraly–Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederic–Curtis Lazar–Chris Wagner

Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly–Kevan Miller
Jeremy Lauzon–Connor Clifton

Tuukka Rask

BUFFALO SABRES (13-30-7)
Jeff Skinner–Sam Reinhart–Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund-_Casey Mittelstadt–Arttu Ruotsalainen
Anders Bjork–Dylan Cozens–Drake Cagguila
Tobias Rieder–Riley Sheahan–Tage Thompson

Mattias Samuelsson–Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin–Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson–William Borgen

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

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