The Boston Bruins will open their New York back-to-back on Wednesday night as they face the Islanders at UBS Arena.
During their first meeting of the season in mid-December, the Bruins earned a 4-3 shootout win at TD Garden.
Boston has won six of its last seven contests while New York has dropped six of its last eight, including a 4-3 overtime defeat against the Washington Capitals on Monday.
Bruins bench boss Jim Montgomery did not confirm Boston’s starting goaltender for Wednesday’s contest, but he said Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will split the back-to-back. Joona Koppanen will wear the Black and Gold for the second time this season as the 24-year-old will pivot the fourth line with Nick Foligno and A.J. Greer on his wings. Koppanen made his NHL debut last week against the Seattle Kraken.
Puck drop from UBS Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN following an hour of pregame coverage.
The Bruins are viewed as the road favorite (-198), according to consensus data on the NESNBets.com live odds page.
Here are the projected lines and pairings for Bruins–Islanders:
BOSTON BRUINS (34-5-4)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Craig Smith
Pavel Zacha–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno–Joona Koppanen–A.J. Greer
Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm–Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort–Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark/Jeremy Swayman
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (23-18-4)
Josh Bailey — Mathew Barzal — William Dufour
Anders Lee — Brock Nelson — Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck
Sebastian Aho — Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov — Scott Mayfield
Dennis Cholowski — Ryan Pulock
Ilya Sorokin
