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

The Bruins face off against the Islanders on Friday in the front end of a back-to-back set against the New York teams.

Boston is coming off an overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Wednesday. The Black and Gold placed Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy on injured reserve Thursday and will continue to rely on a team effort while two of their top contributors are out.

Matthew Poitras will not skate Friday night and will be scratched along with Patrick Brown and Parker Wotherspoon, both of whom were recalled from Providence on Thursday. Head coach Jim Montgomery said the rookie center would take rest days throughout the season, and this is part of that plan.

Jesper Boqvist, who was recalled from Providence this week, will slot into the third line with Trent Frederic and James van Riemsdyk. Danton Heinen will move to Morgan Geekie’s line with David Pastrnak. Charlie Coyle will center the second line with Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk.

Derek Forbort remains out with an undisclosed injury. And Linus Ullmark is expected to get the nod in net opposite Ilya Sorokin.

Puck drop at UBS Arena is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage of the matchup on NESN starting with pregame at 6:30 p.m.

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

BOSTON BRUINS (18-5-4)
Danton Heinen — Morgan Geekie — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand — Charlie Coyle — Jake DeBrusk
James van Riemsdyk — Trent Frederic — Jesper Boqvist
Jakub Lauko — John Beecher — Oskar Steen

Hampus Lindholm — Ian Mitchell
Matt Grzelcyk — Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei — Kevin Shattenkirk

Linus Ullmark

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (14-7-7)
Anders Lee — Bo Horvat — Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall — Brock Nelson — Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Julien Gauthier
Hudson Fasching — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Alexander Romanov — Noah Dobson
Samuel Bolduc– Robert Bortuzzo
Mike Reilly — Sebastian Aho

Ilya Sorokin