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

For the first time since Dec. 16, the Bruins return to game action Saturday afternoon to kick off 2022.

Boston hosts the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden for some New Year’s Day hockey. COVID-19 ran its course through the NHL, and teams just started resuming games this week.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy is confident his players will be good to go despite not playing in over two weeks, but he is switching his lines up a tad in hopes to generate some offense from David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall.

The duo will play together on the second line for the Bruins centered by Erik Haula, meaning Craig Smith moves up a line and Charlie Coyle, who returned from COVID-19 protocol Friday, moves down one.

Linus Ullmark is expected to get the start between the pipes.

Be sure to watch Bruins-Sabres on NESN. Pregame coverage will begin at 12 p.m. ET. Puck drop is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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

BOSTON BRUINS (14-10-2)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Craig Smith
Taylor Hall–Erik Haula–David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk–Charlie Coyle–Nick Foligno
Trent Frederic–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar

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

Linus Ullmark

BUFFALO SABRES (10-17-5)
John Jason Peterka–Tage Thompson–Alex Tuch
Jeff Skinner–Peyton Krebs–Victor Olofsson
Brett Murray–Cody Eakin–Kyle Okposo
Anders Bjork–Arttu Ruotsalainen–Rasmus Asplund

Rasmus Dahlin–Henri Jokiharju
Mark Pysyk–Ethan Prow
Will Butcher–Casey Fitzgerald

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

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