The Boston Bruins have three more games before the calendar flips to 2023.
The stretch between Christmas and New Year’s begins Tuesday night when the Bruins travel to Ottawa for a date with the Senators. The teams sit on opposite ends of the spectrum, with Boston atop the NHL standings and Ottawa last in the Atlantic Division, but the Sens handed the B’s one of their four regulation losses back on Oct. 18.
The Bruins won their final four games before the Christmas break, running their record to 27-4-2. The Senators, meanwhile, dropped three straight before the holiday, falling to 14-16-3 for the season.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery revealed Tuesday morning that Craig Smith will draw into the lineup against the Senators, replacing A.J. Greer, while Jeremy Swayman will start between the pipes.
This marks the first of back-to-back contests for the Bruins, as they’ll return to the ice Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils. Boston then will cap the year with a Saturday matinee against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden before hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
Puck drop from Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action on NESN, beginning with an hour of pregame coverage at 6 p.m. ET.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Bruins vs. Senators.
BOSTON BRUINS (27-4-2)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno — Tomas Nosek — Craig Smith
Hampus Lindholm — Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Connor Clifton
Jeremy Swayman
OTTAWA SENATORS (14-16-3)
Brady Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Claude Giroux
Alex DeBrincat — Shane Pinto — Drake Batherson
Derick Brassard — Mark Kastelic — Austin Watson
Parker Kelly — Dylan Gambrell — Jacob Lucchini
Thomas Chabot — Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Sanderson — Travis Hamonic
Dillon Heatherington — Nick Holden
Cam Talbot
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