BRIGHTON, Mass – The Bruins rotating group of players will continue on Saturday night against the Rangers with Ryan Donato and John Moore both sitting out the final game ahead of the week-long bye for the Black and Gold.
That means David Backes has been bumped up to the third line and Matt Grzelcyk gets back in after Moore suited up for one game against the St. Louis Blues where he showed some rust after not playing for a week. Donato has no points in his past four games and just a single shot on net in each of his last two games, so it certainly seemed like a suitable time to have the youngster watch a game from the press box once again.
It also means Noel Acciari gets reunited with fourth-line compatriots Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner after that trio has proven to be a really effective energy group the past month.
“Acciari is back in. He’s going to go to his line with Sean Kuraly on the wing. Grzelcyk will go back with [Kevan] Miler,” said Bruce Cassidy. “You just hope that the guys will come back [from the bye] in a good frame of mind. I think most of them will be leaving [for the bye] in a decent frame of mind. Whether you agree with it or not in the middle of the year, it’s built in and it’s a break where you’re going to get away from the game for a bit.
“You’re going to do something that you hopefully like to do. You’re going to see family. You’re going to go on vacation and see friends, teammates...whatever. Sit at home play video games uninterrupted. Whatever you want to do it’s your call. It’s when they come back and have to go to work. Hopefully, the guys that aren’t in a good place, that’s when the rebuild starts.”
Tuukka Rask will get the start vs. the Blueshirts with a week of rest headed for him and the rest of the B's after tonight's Eastern Conference battle.
Here are the projected line combos and D-pairings based on morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena:
Boston Bruins
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
Cehlarik-Krejci-DeBrusk
Heinen-JFK-Backes
Kuraly-Acciari-Wagner
Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Miller
Rask
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.