Boston Bruins
Game 23: Boston Bruins @ Edmonton Oilers Lines, Preview

The Boston Bruins (12-8-2, 26 pts) continue a three-game road trip in Northwest Canada as they move on to the Edmonton home (9 pm, ESPN+, NESN) of disgruntled left wing Jake DeBrusk and ready for the second and final meeting of the season with the Oilers (16-8-0, 32 points). The Bruins fell 2-1 on the shootout to Vancouver on Wednesday night in the first half of this late night back-to-back in Western Canada.
The Bruins are obviously hoping for a better showing than the last time against Edmonton when they completely fell apart in the third period en route to a 5-3 loss at TD Garden on Nov. 11. Leon Draisaitl finished with a pair of the goals in the third period and Boston Bruins shutdown defenseman Brandon Carlo had one of the worst nights of his NHL career.
Incidentally, Carlo will be out of the lineup for Thursday night’s game vs. the Oilers after suffering a lower body injury that has him day-to-day right now.
Boston Bruins Notes
–Linus Ullmark gets the start for the Boston Bruins on Thursday night after rookie Jeremy Swayman had gotten the nod between the pipes for three straight games. Ullmark is 5-4-0 with a 2.68 goals against average and a .911 save percentage and is coming off a 2-1 loss to the Red Wings in his last start where he allowed two goals on 16 shots.
–Karson Kuhlman and Anton Blidh will enter back into the Boston Bruins lineup after sitting on Wednesday night and both Oskar Steen and Curtis Lazar are out for the Black and Gold. John Moore will get into his first game action since being recalled from Providence and will be playing his first game for Boston since all the way back on Oct 22 when he logged 18:47 in a win over the Buffalo Sabres.
-Bruins winger Oskar Steen has been returned to the Providence Bruins after managing four shot attempts and a pair of hits in 7:12 of ice time. Steen wasn’t able to elevate a shot on a scoring chance early in the game that marked his most memorable moment in Wednesday night’s loss.
-Bruins forward Tomas Nosek was left behind for this road trip due to the same non-COVID illness that kept McAvoy out of the game last weekend. Defenseman Jakub Zboril (lower-body) is also still out after suffering a leg injury last Thursday. Forward Anton Blidh (upper-body) is returning for Thursday night’s game vs. Edmonton after missing the last few games. Brandon Carlo (lower body) is out for the Boston Bruins after suffering an injury in Wednesday’s shootout loss to the Canucks.
Edmonton Oilers Notes
-Cody Ceci has been activated by the Oilers and Philip Broberg has been assigned to the AHL by Edmonton.
-Leon Draisaitl scored two goals in the last meeting between the Bruins and Oilers and leads Edmonton with 21 goals while tied with Connor McDavid for the team lead with 43 points.
Boston Bruins Lines
Forwards
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall-Charlie Coyle-Craig Smith
Jake DeBrusk-Trent Frederic-Nick Foligno
Anton Blidh-Erik Haula-Karson Kuhlman
Defense
Derek Forbort-Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk-John Moore
Mike Reilly-Connor Clifton
Goalies:
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Edmonton Oilers Lines
Forwards
Zach Hyman–Connor McDavid–Jesse Puljujarvi
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins–Leon Draisaitl–Kailer Yamamoto
Warren Foegele–Ryan McLeod– Zack Kassian
Devin Shore–Derek Ryan–Colton Sceviour
Defense
Darnell Nurse–Evan Bouchard
Kris Russell–Cody Ceci
Markus Niemelainen–Tyson Barrie
Goalies:
Stuart Skinner