Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman will be back in the crease when Boston hosts its home opener against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden on Thursday night.
Swayman did not play in the Black and Gold’s season-opening loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. Bruins bench boss Jim Montgomery made the decision to keep Swayman as the backup given he missed training camp as he awaited a contract.
The B’s surely are hoping Swayman provides a lift after their disappointing loss in Sunrise, Fla.
“We were porous in Game 1 and the great thing about sports is we have an opportunity to respond tonight and show what we’re made of, and show a better version of the Boston Bruins,” Montgomery told reporters at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday, per the team.
Swayman is not the only lineup change. Riley Tufte will make his Bruins debut and replace Max Jones on Boston’s third line. And on the blue line, Parker Wotherspoon will replace Mason Lohrei. Additional back-end changes include Nikita Zadorov and Charlie McAvoy on the top defensive pairing and Hampus Lindholm shifting down to play alongside Brandon Carlo.
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Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.
Check out the projected lines and pairings here:
BOSTON BRUINS (0-1-0)
Pavel Zacha — Elias Lindholm — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand — Charlie Coyle — Morgan Geekie
Riley Tufte — Trent Frederic — Justin Brazeau
John Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Cole Koepke
Nikita Zadorov — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon — Andrew Peeke
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Jeremy Swayman
MONTREAL CANADIENS (1-0-0)
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook — Kirby Dach — Joel Armia
Alex Barre-Boulet — Christian Dvorak — Josh Anderson
Brendan Gallagher — Jake Evans — Oliver Kapanen
Mike Matheson — Kaiden Guhle
Lane Hutson — David Savard
Arber Xhekaj — Justin Barron
Cayden Primeau
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Featured image via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images