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

The Bruins are back in Boston on Thursday, breaking up a pair of two-game road trips with a matchup against the New York Islanders at TD Garden.

In the return home, they'll get a key member of their defense back.

The Bruins are cautiously optimistic Derek Forbort will return to the lineup Thursday. He has been listed as probable and will take part in warmups before Boston makes a final decision. The 31-year-old has missed three games with a back injury.

Boston is still down five regulars, though, with Milan Lucic and Matt Grzelcyk both on injured reserve. Charlie McAvoy is also out, serving a four-game suspension that makes him ineligible until Saturday, while Morgan Geekie is a recent addition to IR with an upper-body injury.

Jakub Lauko was reinstated from injured reserve Thursday but isn't expected to make his in-game return against New York.

The Bruins and Islanders will drop the puck from TD Garden at 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage on NESN starting with pregame at 6 p.m.

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Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for Boston and New York:

BOSTON BRUINS (10-1-1)
Brad Marchand -- Pavel Zacha -- David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk -- Charlie Coyle -- Trent Frederic
Danton Heinen -- Matthew Poitras -- Jake DeBrusk
Patrick Brown -- John Beecher -- Oskar Steen

Hampus Lindholm -- Ian Mitchell
Mason Lohrei -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Kevin Shattenkirk

Linus Ullmark

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (5-3-3)
Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Oliver Wahlstrom
Pierre Engvall -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech -- Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov -- Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho -- Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin