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

Reinforcements have arrived to help the Boston Bruins as they begin their Canadian road trip against the Vancouver Canucks.

Having served his three-game suspension for slew-footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the teams’ last meeting, Brad Marchand is expected to return to Boston’s top line for Wednesday night’s tilt in Vancouver. Marchand’s return will move Taylor Hall back to the second-line left-wing position he held prior to his suspension.

The Bruins recalled Oskar Steen from Providence on Tuesday. With Tomas Nosek out due to a non-COVID-related illness, Steen is expected to play right wing on the Bruins’ fourth line.

Charlie McAvoy looks to have overcome a non-COVID-related illness and will assume his place on Boston’s top defensive pairing, while Matt Grzelcyk is expected to feature on the second pairing.

Jeremy Swayman will continue as the Bruins’ starting goaltender.

NESN will air Bruins-Canucks in full, with pregame coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET. Puck drop from Rogers Arena is scheduled for 9 p.m. If you’re on the go, you can stream the game on Watch NESN Live.

Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for both teams:

BOSTON BRUINS (12-8-1)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Craig Smith
Erik Haula–Trent Frederic–Nick Foligno
Jake DeBrusk–Curtis Lazar–Oskar Steen

Derek Forbort–Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk–Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly–Connor Clifton

Jeremy Swayman

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (9-15-2)
Tanner Pearson–Bo Horvat–Nils Hoglander
Jason Dickinson–J.T. Miller–Brock Boeser
Vasily Podkolzin–Elias Pettersson–Conor Garland
Tyler Motte–Juho Lammikko–Alex Chiasson

Quinn Hughes–Travis Hamonic
Oliver Ekman-Larsson–Tyler Myers
Luke Schenn–Tucker Poolman

Thatcher Demko

These projected lines and defensive pairings are presented by Berkshire Bank, the official bank of NESN’s Boston Bruins coverage.