Joakim Nordstrom set to make his return for Bruins vs. Canadiens

Share

BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Bruins have a tough schedule in the month of February with five sets of back-to-back games, so utilizing their roster depth will be an important part of getting through it.

With that in mind, it’s a good development that energy winger Joakim Nordstrom is healthy and ready to return to the Bruins lineup against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden.

Nordstrom has missed the last handful of games with a condition related to his allergies, but has returned to practice and is ready to resume game action this week.

LIVE stream the Celtics all season and get the latest news and analysis on all of your teams from NBC Sports Boston by downloading the My Teams App.

It remains to be seen which players might be coming out of the lineup as Bruce Cassidy jumbled around his third and fourth line forwards at Tuesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, but Nordstrom will definitely be back in for the Black and Gold.

“I expect Nordstrom to play tomorrow,” said Cassidy of Nordstrom, who has four goals and seven points in 39 games this season while providing gritty intangibles like shot-blocking and penalty killing. “[Connor Clifton] skated with the team, has progressed well and no ill effects that I’ve heard of. He’s not going to play [vs. Montreal]. He’s not ready for that. But he keeps progressing for us.”

Clifton skated without any restrictions at Tuesday’s practice and could be in line for a return from his upper body injury at some point this week as well. The Bruins sent defenseman Jeremy Lauzon down to Providence on Monday with a pending two-game suspension hanging over his head, and he was not at Bruins practice on Tuesday as a result.

Here are the projected Bruins line combos and defense pairings for Wednesday’s game vs. the Habs based on Tuesday’s practice session:

PROJECTED LINES

Brad Marchand Patrice Bergeron David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk David Krejci Karson Kuhlman
Nordstrom/Heinen Charlie Coyle Anders Bjork
Anton Blidh Kuraly/Lindholm Chris Wagner

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS

Zdeno Chara Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk John Moore

STARTING GOALIE

Jaroslav Halak
Contact Us