Bruins lineup tonight: Boston's projected lineup for game against Utah Hockey Club | Nov 21, 2024

By Cole Shelton

Modified Nov 21, 2024 12:10 GMT

The Boston Bruins are at home to play the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. Boston is coming off a 5-1 home loss to Columbus on Monday. Ahead of the home game, here is what the Bruins projected lines are expected to look like.

Bruins projected lines

Forwards

• Morgan Geekie - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
• Brad Marchand - Elias Lindholm - Justin Brazeau
• Georgii Merkulov - Charlie Coyle - Trent Frederic
• Jeffrey Viel - John Beecher - Tyler Johnson

The Bruins have a thin forward group and it has been a reason for the slow start. Boston is averaging just 2.4 goals per game as the Bruins are on a three-game losing streak and fired coach Jim Montgomery on Tuesday.

“Today, I made a very difficult decision with regards to a coaching change,” general manager Don Sweeney said, via NHL.com. “Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person. He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization, and I am both grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him and learn from him. Jim’s accomplishments as the Bruins head coach include a record-breaking and historic season.

"Our team’s inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans. I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success. We will continue to work to make the necessary adjustments to meet the standard and performance our supportive fans expect."

Defenseman

• Jordan Oesterle - Charlie McAvoy
• Mason Lohrei - Brandon Carlo
• Nikita Zadorov - Andrew Peeke

The Bruins' blue line has been an issue this season, as it is even weaker with Hampus Lindholm out of the lineup.

Goalies

• Jeremy Swayman
• Joonas Korpisalo

The Bruins will start Jeremy Swayman, who has struggled this season (5-7-2 with a 3.47 GAA and a .884 SV%).

Bruins vs Utah: Preview

Boston fired coach Jim Montgomery and replaced him with Joe Sacco. The Bruins have struggled this season, but Boston should come out strong here with the new coach and after being blown out by Columbus.

Expect the Bruins to play hard and aggressively to get out to an early lead and get a big win here.

Prediction: Bruins 4, Utah 2.