TORONTO – It hasn’t been easy for David Backes to sit out for four of the Bruins' first seven games this season while they struggled to generate offense, but the 35-year-old will get his chance for Boston on Saturday night.
With Joakim Nordstrom (upper body) out for this weekend and David Krejci already missing from the lineup with an injury, Backes will draw back in after last playing in the Oct. 10 loss to the Colorado Avs on the season-opening West Coast swing.
Backes has eight shots on goal and a plus-1 in the three games that he has played and he’s looking forward to his chance to bring some energy and emotion while skating with Chris Wagner and Sean Kuraly on the B’s energy line.
“These opportunities present themselves and what I can do with it? That’s up to me tonight,” said Backes. “If we can get pucks top the net and crash it and find some loose change, some garbage, that’s probably our best opportunity. It’s getting back to the basics of what makes that line very effective.
“This early in the year knowing I was really ready for the season and getting the pause button pushed when you really want to get into a rhythm [is challenging]. You want the team to win first and foremost and then you want to be a part of it and contributing to those wins. Everybody wants to feel that. We’ve been looking for more sources of offense as everyone has been talking about, and it’s tough to do that sitting on the ninth floor with [the media].”
Other than Backes getting back into the lineup with the Bruins eschewing any call-ups from Providence, the other news item was Patrice Bergeron staying in the lineup after sitting out Friday’s practice with a lower-body injury. Jaroslav Halak gets the start in net for the Black and Gold as Bruce Cassidy continues to go with a straight goaltending rotation to start the season.
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Here are the projected line combos and D-pairings for Saturday night’s game based on morning skate at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto:
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Coyle-Kuhlman
Heinen-Lindholm-Ritchie
Wagner-Kuraly-Backes
Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Clifton
Halak
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