Need to Know: Bruins at Red Wings

DETROIT – The Bruins will close out their five-game, 12-day road trip against the Red Wings on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena. Boston will be aiming to snap its seven-game losing skid. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the 8:15 p.m. ET puck drop on ABC and 98.5 The Sports Hub:

• The Red Wings (33-33-6, 72 points) enter Saturday’s matchup having dropped two straight and are three points clear of the Bruins in the East’s wild card standings. Detroit is three points back of Columbus for the final playoff spot. “No. 1, it’s being prepared for the start of the game,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said of the challenges the B’s will face against the Red Wings. “They’re going to come out with a lot of energy and pace in their game, so we want to be ready for the start. The other thing is playing a disciplined game, their power play drives a lot of their offense. I think they’re No. 3 in the league so no unnecessary penalties, especially in the offensive zone. We have to stay away from the holding and hooking penalties.”
• Sacco reunited David Pastrnak with Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha during Saturday’s morning skate. “Just think we tried a couple of different combinations over the last couple games and it hasn’t worked out the way we wanted it to,” said Sacco. “I know that one line with Geeks, Pav, and Pasta have produced a lot. Try to reunite them and see if we can get some of that back again. I think if you look overall, those lines that we had before, we had some decent chemistry at times so we’ll try to reunte those lines and see what they can do offensively.”
• Mason Lohrei (illness) did not take part in the pregame skate and is a “game-time” decision, per Sacco. “Mason was sick this morning,” said Sacco. “Hopefully he can play.”
• After missing Wednesday’s loss to Anaheim to tend to a family matter in Boston, Nikita Zadorov will be back in the lineup against the Red Wings.
• Sacco confirmed that Jeremy Swayman will get the start between the pipes. Swayman is one win short of 100 for his NHL career.
• Parker Wotherspoon is expected to play in his 100^th career game on Saturday night.

Saturday’s Projected Lineup

FORWARDS

Morgan Geekie – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

Marat Khusnutdinov – Elias Lindholm – Fabian Lysell

Cole Koepke – Casey Mittelstadt – Vinni Lettieri

Jakub Lauko – Johnny Beecher – Patrick Brown

DEFENSEMEN

Nikita Zadorov – Henri Jokiharju

Michael Callahan/Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke

Parker Wotherspoon – Ian Mitchell

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman

Joonas Korpisalo