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

The Bruins’ six-game winning streak was broken Thursday night, and Boston prepares for a tough schedule ahead featuring multiple Atlantic Division opponents.

Head coach Jim Montgomery hopes to get his side in top form when the Red Wings come to town. Detroit has lost two straight games heading into Saturday’s matchup with its latest defeat coming at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. But Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat will be a handful leading the NHL as the No. 2 and No. 3 points leaders, respectively.

The Bruins will be without Milan Lucic, who was placed on long-term injured reserve Saturday. Montgomery told reporters the veteran would be out at least two weeks, and Jakub Lauko still remains out after taking a skate blade to the face.

Boston made multiple moves Saturday, including recalling Oskar Steen, who will start ahead of Jesper Boqvist — the 24-year-old was assigned to Providence. Montgomery said multiple players are “questionable” for Saturday, but Steen is projected to start on the fourth line. Patrick Brown was sent down to Providence, and two defensemen were called up, so it’s possible the Bruins roll out seven defensemen Saturday night. Jeremy Swayman is projected to rotate in at goalie.

Puck drop for Bruins-Red Wings is scheduled at 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage of the matchup on NESN starting at 6 p.m. Boston also will celebrate the first of multiple “Era Nights” starting with the early years (1924-59).

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for both teams.

BOSTON BRUINS (6-0-1)
Brad Marchand — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk — Matt Poitras — Morgan Geekie
James van Riemsdyk — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Oskar Steen — Johnny Beecher — Patrick Brown

Matt Grzelcyk — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Kevin Shattenkirk

Jeremy Swayman

DETROIT RED WINGS (5-2-1)
Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Larkin — Lucas Raymond
David Perron — JT Compher — Andrew Copp
Michael Rasmussen — Joe Veleno — Daniel Sprong
Klim Kostin — Austin Czarnik — Christian Fischer

Jake Walman — Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot — Jeff Petry
Shayne Gostisbehere — Justin Holl

Ville Husso