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

Lineup questions surround the Boston Bruins ahead of their tilt with the Buffalo Sabres.

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters Wednesday Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark “tweaked something” during morning skate and will be a game-time decision to face his former team. If Ullmark can’t play, Jeremy Swayman will be between the pipes in Buffalo.

The B’s are expected to stick with the offensive lines they used Sunday in their disappointing loss to the Calgary Flames. That means Trent Frederic won’t return from injury to the lineup, despite his recent participation in Boston’s practices.

Cassidy will shake up Boston’s defensive pairings, with Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy reuniting on the top pair, and Derek Forbort joining Brandon Carlo on the second.

Will the Bruins benefit from these changes in their second meeting of the season with the Sabres?

NESN will air Bruins-Sabres in full, with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. ET. Puck drop from KeyBank Center is set for 7 p.m.

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

BOSTON BRUINS (9-5-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Nick Foligno
Jake DeBrusk–Erik Haula–Craig Smith
Anton Blidh–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar

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

Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman

BUFFALO SABRES (7-9-2)
Jeff Skinner–Tage Thompson–Victor Olofsson
Drake Caggiula–Dylan Cozens–Vinnie Hinostroza
Rasmus Asplund–Zemgus Girgensons–Kyle Okposo
Arttu Ruotsalainen–Cody Eakin–Anders Bjork

Rasmus Dahlin–Mark Pysyk
Jacob Bryson–Henri Jokiharju
Robert Hagg–Colin Miller

Aaron Dell

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