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

The Bruins and the Sabres will share the ice Saturday night at KeyBank Center for the Atlantic Division rivals’ first meeting of the 2022-23 NHL season.

Boston is coming off an eventful win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night at TD Garden. Charlie McAvoy returned to the Bruins’ lineup and made a significant impact in his season debut, netting the go-ahead goal in the second period of the Bruins’ 3-1 win. McAvoy, who missed Boston’s first 13 games of the season after undergoing an offseason procedure on his left shoulder, will be back on the Bruins’ second defensive pairing Saturday night alongside Matt Grzelcyk.

Speaking of debuts, Keith Kinkaid will make his first start in between the pipes for Boston against Buffalo. Kinkaid, who signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Bruins back in July, was promoted from Providence on Nov. 2 as a result of Jeremy Swayman’s lower body injury. Saturday night will mark the 33-year-old’s first NHL start since Dec. 15 of last year.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Saturday night’s Bruins-Sabres tilt:

BRUINS (12-2-0)
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–Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Jakub Zboril–Brandon Carlo

Keith Kinkaid

SABRES (7-7-0)
Jeff Skinner–Tage Thompson–Alex Tuch
Jack Quinn–Dylan Cozens–JJ Peterka
Peyton Krebs–Casey Mittelstadt–Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund–Zemgus Girgensons–Vinnie Hinostroza

Owen Power–Rasmus Dahlin
Jacob Bryson–Casey Fitzgerald
Lawrence Pilut–Ilya Lyubushkin

Craig Anderson