Bruins-Capitals Projected Lines, Pairings: Could Shuffled Group Snap Skid?

The Boston Bruins will return to TD Garden on Tuesday, looking to snap an eight-game losing streak against the Washington Capitals.

Alex Ovechkin will be standing in their way.

“It’s about getting our mindset focused to win a hockey game and how we go about doing it.” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said, per team-provided transcript. “But also, the part about the pride and the privilege. I’ve talked about those two things. I think that’s huge for our guys… There’s a lot of opportunity here for some of our players that have come up now, players from different teams. There’s the opportunity factor, but then there’s the pride. The pride of being a Boston Bruin. The pride of being a good teammate, trying to win hockey games.”

The B’s won’t change much in terms of the lineup, but there was some shuffling. Charlie McAvoy is making progress after being injured in the 4 Nations Face-Off, with Ian Mitchell continuing to fill a role on the blue line.

Jeremy Swayman will start in net.

Boston and Washington are set to drop the puck at 7 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.

We have the projected lines and defensive pairings for both sides:

BOSTON BRUINS (30-35-9)
Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnutdinov — Elias Lindholm — Fabian Lysell
Cole Koepke — Casey Mittelstadt — Vinni Lettieri
Jakub Lauko — Johnny Beecher — Patrick Brown

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

Jeremy Swayman

WASHINGTON CAPITALS (47-17-9)
Alex Ovechkin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas — Dylan Strome — Ryan Leonard
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Andrew Mangiapane
Anthony Beauvillier – Nic Dowd — Brandon Duhaime

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary — Dylan McIlrath

Charlie Lindgren