Berkshire Bank Hockey Night In America: Projected Bruins-Canadiens Lines, Pairings

The Bruins face the Canadiens on Saturday, and they’ll have their star defenseman back for the Original Six matchup.

Charlie McAvoy returns for Boston after serving a four-game suspension. The B’s defense held up as well as head coach Jim Montgomery could have asked for without McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort out. McAvoy’s return comes at an opportune time with Charlie Coyle notching a hat trick Thursday night against the New York Islanders.

“Anytime you can get an elite defenseman one of the top defensemen in the league back in your lineup you’re better offensively, you’re better defensively, and you’re better in transition both ways,” Montgomery told reporters, per team-provided video. “He’s an elite defenseman. He takes up a lot of space, and he’s a big horse for us back there.”

McAvoy will pair with Mason Lohrei, which was a scenario the rookie defenseman hoped for in preseason. Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo will be the second defensive pairing, while Forbort will round out the defensive pairings with Ian Mitchell, which means Kevin Shattenkirk will be scratched Saturday night.

Danton Heinen starts on the third line with Mattew Poitras and Jake DeBrusk. And Jakub Lauko makes his return on the fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Oskar Steen. The Bruins forward told reporters this week he’d wear a neck guard after taking a skate blade to the face and Adam Johnson’s death.

Jeremy Swayman starts between the pipes and hopes to continue his six-game winning streak.

Puck drop at Bell Centre is scheduled at 7 p.m. ET, and NESN will have full coverage of the matchup starting with pregame at 6 p.m.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for the Bruins and Canadiens.

BOSTON BRUINS (11-1-1)
Brad Marchand — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Danton Heinen — Matt Poitras — Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko — Johnny Beecher — Oskar Steen

Mason Lohrei — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort — Ian Mitchell

Jeremy Swayman

MONTREAL CANADIENS (6-5-2)
Alex Newhook — Nick Suzuki –Josh Anderson
Juraj Slafkovsky — Christian Dvorak — Cole Caufield
Tanner Pearson — Sean Monahan — Brendan Gallagher
Michael Pezzetta — Jake Evans — Rafael Harvey-Pinard

Mike Matheson — Justin Barron
Kaiden Guhle — Johnathan Kovacevic
Arber Xhekaj — Jordan Harris

Sam Montembeault