Boston Bruins
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