Projected Lines, Pairings As Bruins Host Utah In Joe Sacco’s Debut

Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco has crafted his lines for the first time as interim head coach as Boston hosts the Utah Hockey Club at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Sacco was elevated to that role Tuesday after the Bruins relieved Jim Montgomery from his head coaching duties.

The Black and Gold will try to halt their three-game losing skid, dropping each of their last two at TD Garden. Boston fell 5-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in what proved to be Montgomery’s final time on the bench.

Utah enters on a two-game losing streak of its own.

Sacco is expected to make a few changes to Boston’s lineup with Joonas Korpisalo set to replace Jeremy Swayman in the crease. Mark Kastelic will return as the fourth-line center to Johnny Beecher and Cole Koepke while defenseman Parker Wotherspoon is expected to be back in alongside Brandon Carlo.

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.

Here are the projected lines and pairings for both teams:

BOSTON (8-9-3)
Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand — Elias Lindholm — Justin Brazeau
Georgii Merkulov — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
John Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Cole Koepke

Mason Lohrei — Charlie McAvoy
Parker Wotherspoon — Brandon Carlo
Nikita Zadorov — Andrew Peeke

Joonas Korpisalo

UTAH (7-8-3)
Clayton Keller — Nick Bjugstad — Dylan Guenther
Matias Maccelli — Logan Cooley — Lawson Crouse
Alexander Kerfoot — Barrett Hayton — Nick Schmaltz
Jack McBain — Kevin Stenlund — Michael Carcone

Mikhail Sergachev — Olli Maatta
Juuso Valimaki — Michael Kesselring
Ian Cole — Maveric Lamoureux

Karel Vejmelka