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

The Boston Bruins and New York Rangers will provide the sports world with some tasty leftovers.

When the teams face off Friday afternoon at TD Garden in the 2021 NHL Thanksgiving showdown, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is expected to stick with the lines and defensive pairings he deployed in Boston’s previous outing, a dominant 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

That’s good news for the Bruins, as star defenseman Charlie McAvoy likely will take his place their top pairing two days after Zemgus Gurgensons’ hit forced him to exit the Boston-Buffalo game in the third period.

Derek Forbert joins birthday boy Brandon Carlo on Boston’s second pairing, and Mike Reilly is expected to continue alongside Jakub Zboril on the third.

Charlie Coyle remains the Bruins’ second-line center, and Cassidy hopes he’ll continue making a positive impact in that role.

Jeremy Swayman is Boston’s starting goaltender, and Linus Ullmark will be his backup.

Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Here are the Bruins’ and Rangers’ projected lines and defensive pairings:

BOSTON BRUINS (10-6-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Nick Foligno
Jake DeBrusk–Tomas Nosek–Craig Smith
Anton Blidh–Erik Haula–Curtis Lazar

Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Derek Forbort–Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly–Jakub Zboril

Jeremy Swayman

NEW YORK RANGERS (12-4-3)
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Dryden Hunt
Alexis Lafreniere–Filip Chytil–Julien Gauthier
Kevin Rooney–Barclay Goodrow–Ryan Reaves

Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba
Patrik Nemeth–Nils Lundkvist

Igor Shesterkin

Friday’s Bruins-Rangers lines and pairings are presented by Berkshire Bank, the official bank of NESN’s Boston Bruins coverage.