The red-hot Bruins will get some reinforcement back Thursday night.
Brad Marchand will return to Boston's lineup ahead of its game against Detroit. The forward is about five weeks ahead of schedule.
Head coach Jim Montgomery made the surprise announcement after Thursday's practice, noting Marchand will play on the top line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk. With Marchand's return, Pavel Zacha will slide down to the third line and Craig Smith will play on the fourth line. A.J. Greer is the healthy scratch.
Jeremy Swayman will start between the pipes for the Bruins, his first since being pulled from Boston's 7-5 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The Bruins have won three straight and four of their last five, and look to continue that dominance against a Red Wings team that has lost three of four.
Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action beginning at 6 p.m. on NESN.
Here are the projected lines and defense pairings for Bruins-Red Wings:
BOSTON BRUINS (6-1-0)
Brad Marchand--Patrice Bergeron--Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Hall--David Krejci--David Pastrnak
Trent Frederic--Charlie Coyle--Pavel Zacha
Nick Foligno--Tomas Nosek--Craig Smith
Hampus Lindholm--Matt Grzelcyk
Derek Forbort--Connor Clifton
Mike Reilly--Brandon Carlo
Jeremy Swayman
DETROIT RED WINGS (3-1-2)
Dominik Kubalik--Dylan Larkin--David Perron
Joe Veleno--Andrew Copp--Lucas Raymond
Elder Soderblom--Michael Rasmussen--Adam Erne
Filip Zadina--Pius Sutter--Matt Luff
Ben Chiarot--Mortiz Seider
Olli Maatta--Filip Hronek
Robert Hagg--Gustav Lindstrom
Ville Husso
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