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

The Boston Bruins will have to be at their best when they visit the Colorado Avalanche.

Some lineup stability might help the B’s achieve that goal, as head coach Bruce Cassidy will make just two personnel changes for Wednesday night’s matchup. Anton Blidh will replace Nick Foligno as left wing on the fourth line.

Foligno suffered an upper-body injury Monday night during Boston’s 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Blidh returns to the lineup, having missed the Bruins’ last two games as he recovered from a heavy hit he took last Thursday in Boston’s win over the Washington Capitals.

The rest of the Bruins’ forward lines should remain the same as they were at the start of their last outing.

Urho Vaakanainen will remain Charlie McAvoy’s partner on Boston’s top defensive pairing, as Matt Grzelcyk is still out of the lineup. However, Cassidy indicated Grzelcyk is day-to-day.

Linus Ullmark will start in goal for the Bruins, and Tuukka Rask will be his backup.

The Avalanche are red-hot. They’ve won seven consecutive games and are 12-0-1 in January.

TNT will air Bruins-Avalanche in full. Puck drop from Ball Arena is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.

Here are the teams’ projected lines and defensive pairings:

BOSTON BRUINS (24-13-2)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Craig Smith
Taylor Hall–Erik Haula–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–Charlie Coyle–Oskar Steen
Anton Blidh–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar

Urho Vaakanainen–Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly–Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort–Connor Clifton

Linus Ullmark

COLORADO AVALANCHE (29-8-3)
Gabriel Landeskog–Nathan Mackinnon–Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin–Nazem Kadri–Andre Burakovsky
JT Compher–Alex Newhook–Logan O’Connor
Tyson Jost–Mikhail Maltsev–Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Devon Toews–Cale Makar
Jack Johnson–Samuel Girard
Kurtis MacDermid–Erik Johnson

Pavel Francouz

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