The Bruins head back to Boston after a successful West Coast road trip to take on the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
The Black and Gold are coming off three days rest after routing the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday with David Pastrnak scoring a hat trick at Honda Center.
The Bruins head back to TD Garden to extend their current point streak to 14 games, and the B’s hope to extend their home point streak to 23 games. Boston heads into the matchup against the Kraken atop the NHL standings with 68 points.
The Bruins recalled Joona Koppnanen and reassigned Chris Wagner to Providence on Wednesday. Koppnanen will center the fourth line as Tomas Nosek deals with an undisclosed injury that prevents him from taking face-offs at his usual center position. He will play right wing because he has “no risk of getting further injured,” according to head coach Jim Montgomery.
A starting goalie has not been announced, but Linus Ullmark is expected to be the man between the pipes Thursday.
Craig Smith will get the nod on the right wing on the first line, which moves David Pastrnak to the second line and aligns him with Czech teammates Pavel Zacha and David Krejci.
NESN pregame coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. ET with “Bruins Face-Off,” and puck drop at TD is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Thursday’s game between the Bruins and Kraken:
BOSTON BRUINS (32-4-4)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Craig Smith
Pavel Zacha — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno — Joona Koppanen — Tomas Nosek
Matt Grzelcyk — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
SEATTLE KRAKEN (24-12-4)
Andre Burakovsky — Matty Beniers — Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz — Alex Wennberg — Jared McCann
Eeli Tolvanen — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev — Ryan Donato — Daniel Sprong
Vince Dunn — Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak — Justin Schultz
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen
Martin Jones
