Bruins-Capitals Projected Lines, Pairings: Boston Ready For ‘Good Test’

The Bruins have a tough test standing between them and their holiday break.

Boston is set to welcome the Washington Capitals, the top team in the Eastern Conference, to TD Garden on Monday night. The Black and Gold will try to make it two straight wins while Washington is coming off consecutive victories.

“We talked about that yesterday a little bit, as far as the feeling — trying to get on the right side of it, feeling good about your game individually and, more importantly, our team game going into the break,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco told reporters Monday. “It’s going to be a good test for us.”

The Bruins are expected to keep their same lines and pairings from Saturday’s win over the Sabres. Morgan Geekie will continue skating on Pavel Zacha’s line alongside David Pastrnak while Jeremy Swayman will return to the crease.

“He knows his role on that line; he’s doing it well too,” Sacco said of Geekie, who scored the game-winning goal against Buffalo.

Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN following an hour of pregame coverage.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams:

BRUINS (18-13-4)
Brad Marchand — Elias Lindholm — Charlie Coyle
Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Justin Brazeau — Trent Frederic — Oliver Wahlstrom
John Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Cole Koepke

Nikita Zadorov — Charlie McAvoy
Jordan Oesterle — Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei — Andrew Peeke

Jeremy Swayman

CAPITALS (23-8-2)
Andrew Mangiapane — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei Protas
Jakub Vrana — Hendrix Lapierre — Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Ivan Miroshnichenko

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren