Bruins-Golden Knights Lines, Pairings: Jeffrey Viel To Make Season Debut

The Boston Bruins on Thursday will have their first opportunity to show how they can respond to a loss.

Boston’s undefeated start came to an end Monday with the matinee loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After that, the B’s hit the road for Las Vegas, where they are set to begin a three-game West Coast swing Thursday night against the Golden Knights.

Changes should be few for the Bruins. Jeffrey Viel was on the fourth line left wing during morning skate, with Marat Khusnutdinov skating as an extra. That suggests Viel will make his season debut against Vegas.

Hampus Lindholm has resumed skating, but he will not play Thursday, so no changes are expected from the defensive group.

Jeremy Swayman will be back in net after Joonas Korpisalo got the start against Tampa.

The Golden Knights are coming off a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames, but that win came at a cost, with Vegas losing top goalie Adin Hill. Akira Schmid took over the rest of the game, and seems likely to play Thursday night.

Here are the expected lines for Thursday’s Bruins-Golden Knights game. Puck drop is set for 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Boston Bruins (3-1-0)
Morgan Geekie–Elias Lindholm–David Pastrnak
Pavel Zacha–Casey Mittelstadt–Viktor Arvidsson
Tanner Jeannot–Fraser Minten–Michael Eyssimont
Jeffrey Viel–Sean Kuraly–Mark Kastelic

Mason Lohrei–Charlie McAvoy
Jordan Harris–Andrew Peeke
Nikita Zadorov–Henri Jokiharju

Jeremy Swayman

Vegas Golden Knights (2-0-2)
Ivan Barbashe–Jack Eichel–Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev–Tomas Hertl–Mitch Marner
Brandon Saad–William Karlsson–Reilly Smith
Cole Reinhardt–Colton Sissons–Keegan Kolesar

Brayden McNabb–Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton–Zach Whitecloud
Jeremy Lauzon–Kaedan Korczak

Akira Schmid