Craig Smith returns to the second line
The long-running duel between the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres is set to end for at least a few months.
The teams will face off Saturday afternoon at TD Garden in their eighth, and final, meeting of the 2020-21 NHL season. After beating the Sabres 5-2 on Thursday night, the Bruins look to extend their winning streak to three games and overtake the New York Islanders for third place in the East Division.
Jake DeBrusk will return from two games out as a healthy scratch and play left wing on the fourth line in place of Trent Frederic. Karson Kuhlman will play right wing on the fourth line, with Curtis Lazar centering the unit. Chris Wagner won’t play due to injury.
Jeremy Swayman will start as Boston’s goaltender, looking to earn his sixth win in eight games. Jaroslav Halak will be Swayman’s backup.
Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. ET. Watch Bruins-Sabres on NESN+, with pregame coverage starting at noon.
Here are the projected lineups for the teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (29-14-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–David Krejci–Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie–Sean Kuraly–Charlie Coyle
Jake DeBrusk–Curtis Lazar–Karson Kuhlman
Jeremy Lauzon–Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk–Kevan Miller
Mike Reilly–Connor Clifton
Jeremy Swayman
BUFFALO SABRES (13-31-7)
Jeff Skinner–Sam Reinhart–Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund–Casey Mittelstadt–Arttu Ruotsalainen
Anders Bjork–Dylan Cozens–Drake Caggiula
Tobias Rieder–Riley Sheahan–Tage Thompson
Mattias Samuelsson–Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin–Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson–William Borgen
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen