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

The Bruins continue their road trip in San Jose to take on the Sharks.

Boston is coming off an impressive outing against the Los Angeles Kings. It was the first game without Jake DeBrusk, who was placed on long-term injured reserve due to a hand and lower-body injury, but Trent Frederic came through for the Bruins, scoring two goals Thursday.

San Jose has lost four of its last five games and will face a tough battle against the best team in the NHL in terms of points, as it is seventh in the Pacific Division heading into Saturday.

The Bruins have won two straight games heading into Saturday, and the matchup against the Sharks is the front end of a back-to-back where the Black and Gold will travel to Anaheim to take on the Ducks on Sunday.

This means Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will split duties for both games. The former, who was named an NHL All-Star this week, will start Saturday, and the latter will be between the pipes Sunday, according to head coach Jim Montgomery.

Chris Wagner, who was recalled from Providence after DeBrusk was placed on the LTIR, was scratched Saturday. A.J. Greer was ruled out due to an illness. Boston is expected to go with seven defensemen.

NESN pregame coverage starts at 9:30 p.m. ET with “Bruins Breakaway,” and puck drop at SAP Center is scheduled at 10:30 p.m.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Saturday’s game:

BOSTON BRUINS (30-4-4)
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall — David Krejci — Pavel Zacha
Nick Foligno — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Tomas Nosek — Craig Smith

Matt Grzelcyk — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Connor Clifton

Jakub Zboril

Linus Ullmark

SAN JOSE SHARKS (12-20-8)
Timo Meier — Logan Couture — Alexander Barabanov
Matt Nieto — Tomas Hertl — Kevin Labanc
Nick Bonino — Nico Sturm — Evgeny Svechnikov
Jonah Gadjovich — Steven Lorentz — Oskar Lindblom

Jaycob Megna — Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Matt Benning
Scott Harrington — Mario Ferraro

James Reimer