Bruins-Flames Projected Lines, Pairings: Boston’s Tweaks Continue

The Bruins will return to TD Garden on Thursday, opening up a quick two-game homestand against the Calgary Flames.

Jim Montgomery is making some changes to his lineup… again.

Boston will shift Pavel Zacha back to the middle of the ice, as he’ll center David Pastrnak and Tyler Johnson. Justin Brazeau will move up to the top line, playing alongside Elias Lindholm and Brad Marchand.

“(Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak) have played really well together for two years in a row,” Montgomery said, per team-provided transcript. “…I thought the line of (Charlie) Coyle, Zacha and (Justin) Brazeau was doing a good job. …We feel that our defensive structure game is in a good place. We don’t see a lot of offense being created in several of our last games five-on-five. We’re not getting a lot of Grade-A chances. …We just have to go to harder areas more consistently and be more direct offensively.”

Cole Koepke and Trent Frederic are swapping spots on the bottom six.

The B’s and Flames 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 (6-7-1)
Brad Marchand — Elias Lindholm — Justin Brazeau
Tyler Johnson — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak
Cole Koepke — Charlie Coyle — Matt Poitras
Johnny Beecher — Mark Kastelic — Trent Frederic

Nikita Zadorov — Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm — Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei — Parker Wotherspoon

Jeremy Swayman

CALGARY FLAMES (7-5-1)
Connor Zary — Nazem Kadri — Andrei Kuzmenko
Jonathan Huberdeau — Yegor Sharangovich — Martin Pospisil
Blake Coleman — Mikael Backlund — Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg — Kevin Rooney — Justin Kirkland

Kevin Bahl — Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar — Daniil Miromanov
Tyson Barrie — Brayden Pachal

Dustin Wolf