BOSTON – Patrice Bergeron returned to the Bruins lineup on Saturday afternoon for the first time in more than a month and scored two goals against the Nashville Predators, including his 300th career goal.
He had missed 16 games due to a rib/sternoclavicular injury. Bergeron centered the top line between longtime linemate Brad Marchand and second-year winger Danton Heinen, who is looking for an offensive boost with just four goals and eight points in 33 games this season.
Clearly, the Bruins have done okay without No. 37 after going 9-6-1 in Bergeron’s absence and there’s certainly going to be some rust to his game. But the B's will be a better team in nearly every facet with their best player back. Bergeron’s return signals the imminent return of a number of other B’s who will make the roster healthy and formidable once again.
Here are the projected Bruins line combos and D-pairings vs. the Predators based on the pregame warm-ups:
Boston Bruins
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Marchand-Bergeron-Heinen
Nordstrom-Krejci-Pastrnak
Donato-Cave-Backes
Kuraly-Acciari-Wagner
Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Kampfer-Moore
Halak
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