Need to Know: Bruins at Sharks

SAN JOSE – The Bruins’ five-game road trip continues on Saturday night against the Sharks at SAP Center with Boston aiming to avoid a fifth consecutive loss.

“We’ve struggled to get some wins, but what I like about the way we’re playing, there’s been no quit in our group,” said interim head coach Joe Sacco. “Even last game against Vegas, it wasn’t the second half of the game we wanted – they’re a good team, an elite team, they pushed hard in the second half of the game, we fell behind.

“But there’s no quit, even in games before, prior to that game. The guys have always shown a willingness to fight to the end. And I think that’s the biggest quality right now that I like.”

Here's everything else you need to know ahead of the 10:30 p.m. ET puck drop on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub:

Lysell Back In

After making his NHL debut back in late December against Columbus, Fabian Lysell will return to the Bruins’ lineup on Saturday night in San Jose. The 22-year-old winger was a plus-1 in 11:32 of ice time in his first game.

“I'm super excited, should be a lot of fun,” said Lysell, who skated alongside Marat Khusnutdinov and Elias Lindholm during Saturday’s pregame skate in San Jose. “I’m pretty cool right now, we’ll see how I feel when I get back here later tonight. I’ll just roll with it and see how it goes.”

Lysell, who was selected 21^st overall by the Bruins in 2021, has posted 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in 51 games for Providence this season.

“Just try to use my skating and then I think everything else will fall into place as I move forward,” Lysell said when asked what he’ll try to focus on in his second stint with the big club.

The Sweden native also got a look on the B’s second power-play unit during the pregame skate.

“He’s only played the one game this year and I thought the one game he played in he did a good job, showed some offensive capabilities,” said Sacco. “He’s gonna get more of an opportunity here tonight playing on that [Lindholm] line, he’ll get some more minutes.

“Offensively, he’s got to be able to make some plays for us, produce some offense, whether it’s offensively in the zone or through the neutral zone off the rush…his details and habits have to be solid away from the puck.”

Kastelic Back to Boston

Lysell is taking the place of Mark Kastelic, who suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday night in Vegas and returned back to Boston to be further evaluated.

“He’s not gonna be here for the remainder of the trip,” said Sacco. “We’ll know more when we get back from the trip.”

With Kastelic out and Lysell sliding in on the second line, Jakub Lauko will bump down to play with Johnny Beecher and Patrick Brown.

In other lineup news, Michael Callahan will sub in for Ian Mitchell on the back end to play alongside Parker Wotherspoon. It will be the blue liner’s first NHL game since Feb. 27.

Joonas Korpisalo will get the start between the pipes for Boston.

Opposing View

The Sharks, who enter Saturday’s matchup having dropped two straight, sit at the bottom of the NHL standings with an 18-42-9 record and 45 points.

San Jose is paced by rookie star Macklin Celebrini (21 goals, 29 assists), who is tied with William Eklund (15 goals, 35 assists) for the team lead in points (50). Tyle Toffoli leads the club with 25 goals.

Rookie Will Smith is fourth on the team with 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists).

“They’re young, they’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of skill. We know that [coach Ryan Warsofsky’s] going to have them playing hard both ends of the ice,” said B’s forward Morgan Geekie. “They’re not gonna cheat the game, so there’s a ton of potential here with the good, young players they have and the established guys. It’s gonna be a fun one.”

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

Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke

Michael Callahan – Parker Wotherspoon

GOALIES

Joona Korpisalo

Jeremy Swayman