Bruins vs Wild Preview: Zacha In; McAvoy Probable

The Boston Bruins will get their top center, Pavel Zacha, back when they host the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

After three days of skating with the training staff and fellow injured teammate Charlie McAvoy, center Pavel Zacha is slated to return from an upper-body injury and be in the lineup for the first time since Dec. 9.

“I wasn’t gone for that long,” Zacha said following his team’s game-day skate on Tuesday. “Hopefully, it’s gonna be good. We’ll see today in the game. I had just one full practice with the team, I’m just excited to jump into a game and see how it goes.”

As for McAvoy, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was confident his top defenseman would join Zacha in returning to the lineup but wouldn’t commit to that just yet.

“Zacha 100% [is in],” Montgomery said. “We’re just waiting for McAvoy to see where he’s at after [morning skate]. He’s more than likely going to play but not going to sit here and say 100% if something changed in the morning skate.”

McAvoy has also been out with an upper-body injury after leaving in the third period of the Bruins’ 3-1 loss on Dec. 7. The 6-foot-1, 209-pound rearguard has missed the last four games.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Bruins Game Day Preview:

Boston Bruins (19-5-5, 43 pts) vs Minnesota Wild (12-13-4, 28 pts)

Time: 7:08 p.m. ET

How to watch: NESN, BSWIX, BSN, SNO, SNE, TVAS

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Betting Lines:

Money Line: Bruins (-205), Wild (+170)

Puck Line: Bruins -1.5 (+130), Wild +1.5 (-155)

Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-120) Under 5.5 (+100)

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Bost0n Bruins Notes

–David Pastrnak leads the Bruins in goals (17), assists (24), and points with 41 in 29 games.

-Goalie Linus Ullmark will be back between the pipes tonight. Ullmark is 10-4-1 with a 2.79 GAA and .915 save percentage.

-Derek Forbort (lower-body, LTIR) and Milan Lucic (NHL/NHLPA Players Assistance Program) are all out. McAvoy, as mentioned above, is a game-time decision. If he can go, Mason Lohrei will be the odd man out.

Boston Bruins Lineup

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak

Danton Heinen-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk

James van Riemsdyk-Morgan Geekie-Trent Frederic

Jakub Lauko-John Beecher-Oskar Steen

Defensemen

Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Parker Wotherspoon-Kevin Shattenkirk

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman

Minnesota Wild Lineup

Forwards

Kirill Kaprisov-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy

Marcus Johansson-Marco Rossi-Ryan Hartman

Marcus Foligno-Frederick Gaudreau-Pat Maroon

Brandon Duhaime-Connor Dewar-Vinni Lettieri

Defense

Jacob Middleton-Brock Faber

Alex Goligoski-Zach Bogosian

Jon Merrill-Daemon Hunt

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury

Filip Gustavsson

Officials

Referees: Justin Kea, Steve Kozari

Linesmen: Shandor Alphonso, Dan Kelly