Projected Lines, Defensive Pairings For Bruins-Senators Matchup

The Bruins won two straight games after the NHL trade deadline and hope to make it three in a row after Thursday.

Boston is coming off a gutsy comeback win over the Panthers at TD Garden on Tuesday. The B’s win came following Brad Marchand’s emotional return to the city after Florida acquired the former Bruins captain before the NHL trade deadline.

The Bruins’ two-game win streak put them two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. They are competing with multiple teams for that position, but a win against the Ottawa Senators, who own the top wild-card spot heading into Thursday, could go a long way.

Interim head coach Joe Sacco held an optional morning skate Thursday morning, so the Bruins are expected to run the same lineup as they did in Tuesday’s win over the Panthers. That sets up a matchup between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark on opposite sides of the ice.

Puck drop at Canadian Tire Centre is scheduled at 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch full coverage on NESN after an hour of pregame.

Here are the projected lines and defensive pairings for the Bruins and the Senators.

BOSTON BRUINS (30-28-8)
Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Cole Koepke — Casey Mittelstadt — Vinni Lettieri
Marat Khusnutdinov — Elias Lindholm — Jakub Lauko
John Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Patrick Brown

Nikita Zadorov — Henri Jokiharju
Mason Lohrei — Andrew Peeke
Parker Wotherspoon — Ian Mitchell

Jeremy Swayman

OTTAWA SENATORS (34-25-5)
Brady Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Claude Giroux
David Perron — Dylan Cozens — Drake Batherson
Ridly Greig — Shane Pinto — Michael Amadio
Matthew Highmore — Adam Gaudette — Fabian Zetterlund

Jake Sanderson — Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot — Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven — Nikolas Matinpalo

Linus Ullmark