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

The Bruins look to bounce back as they begin their six-game road trip with a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.

Boston lost to the New York Rangers, 5-2, at TD Garden on Thursday. Head coach Jim Montgomery stressed Friday for a “shot-first mindset” from his team, and Jeremy Swayman hoped to find his form as the B’s continue to prepare for the postseason.

Linus Ullmark will get the start against Philly and hopes to help the Black and Gold complete the season series sweep over the Flyers. The last time these sides faced was last week when James van Riemsdyk was honored for his 1,000th NHL game and the Bruins exploded in the third period to come away with a 6-5 win.

The Bruins forward did practice Friday, but he is questionable due to an illness. His return would mean John Beecher would be a healthy scratch as van Riemsdyk would slot into the third line. Brad Marchand did not practice Friday due to maintenance. However, Montgomery said it was likely the captain suits up.

The Boston head coach tested out a defensive pairing of Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke to see how the balance of physical defense and offense would look. That pairing would mean Parker Wotherspoon and Kevin Shattenkirk would be scratched for the Saturday afternoon matchup.

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Puck drop for Bruins-Flyers is scheduled at 1 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.

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

BOSTON BRUINS (41-15-15)
Brad Marchand — Charlie Coyle — Jake DeBrusk
Danton Heinen — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk — Morgan Geekie — Trent Frederic
Jakub Lauko — Jesper Boqvist — Justin Brazeau

Matt Grzelcyk — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei — Andrew Peeke

Linus Ullmark

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (35-26-9)
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Bobby Brink
Tyson Foerster — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Nicolas Deslauriers — Noah Cates — Olle Lycksell

Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Adam Ginning — Ronnie Attard
Egor Zamula — Erik Johnson

Felix Sandstrom

Presented by Berkshire Bank, the official bank of NESN’s Boston Bruins coverage.