Need to Know: Bruins vs. Wild

BOSTON – The Bruins are likely to have some reinforcements on Tuesday night when they host the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden.

Pavel Zacha will make his return to the lineup after missing the last three games with an upper-body injury, while Charlie McAvoy could also be back following a four-game absence due to an upper-body ailment of his own.

“Zacha 100% [is in],” said coach Jim Montgomery. “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.”

“I wasn’t gone for that long,” added Zacha. “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.”

If McAvoy returns, Mason Lohrei will be the odd man out on the blue line, meaning that Parker Wotherspoon will remain in the lineup after a strong showing through five games (over two different stints) this season.

“Just how firm he is,” Montgomery said when asked what he’s liked about the 26-year-old’s game. “He has a little snarl to his game and some jam and we think that's an element on our team that on the D corps is needed especially with [Derek] Forbort out.”

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Wotherspoon played just 12 games with the Islanders in 2022-23, otherwise having spent the majority of the past nine seasons in the AHL, the first eight with Bridgeport and most of this year with Providence.

“The first time he was here and this time, one thing he does is he has an energy about him, a positive energy where he elevates the mood on the bench,” said Montgomery. “He elevates the mood in the dressing room because he's a guy that's going to be there for you – and I'm talking to his teammates, not the coaches. Right?

“And there's an element there that that's always loved and endeared guys to their teammates when you are of that kind of fiber.”

Montgomery said that should Lohrei draw out, the message will be to continue his growth in the defensive end.

“Again, if he's not playing tonight, we've talked to him about being firm, getting his nose over top of pucks, winning 1-on-1 battles more consistently, which will lead to less time in our own end,” said Montgomery. “It's not just him. It's something that we're talking to our team in general about.”

Opposing View

The Wild (12-13-4, 28 points) are on the second end of a back-to-back, which began with a 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday night. The setback snapped a three-game winning streak for Minnesota, which sits sixth in the West’s wild card standings, four points back of Arizona for the second spot. Minnesota is 7-3-0 since John Hynes took over for Dean Evason late last month.

Mats Zuccarello leads the Wild with 28 points (6 goals, 22 assists) in 28 games, while Joel Eriksson Ek paces Minnesota with 14 goals.

Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to get the start in goal for Minnesota. He Is 4-5-2 with a 3.29 goals against average and .886 save percentage this season as the No. 2 to Filip Gustavsson.