Bruins announce roster for preseason tilt vs. Devils

The Bruins are officially beyond the halfway point of the 2022 preseason, and there’s no sign of things slowing down for Jim Montgomery’s camp battles.

And though another injury has opened things up slightly, Monday in Newark will clearly provide a last chance for some bubble’s bubble (really was the absolute worst flavor of gum next to like Japanese trick gum) players to extend their time with the NHL camp.

Up front, the Bruins will roll with a top line featuring Charlie Coyle between Trent Frederic and Craig Smith. This line is still projected to begin the year as Boston’s third line, and though they had a slow start last Tuesday against the Rangers, Montgomery liked their third period.

On line two, it will once again be A.J. Greer and Marc McLaughlin on Jack Studnicka’s wings. Greer scored two goals in last week’s overtime win over the Rangers, and has put himself in the driver’s seat for a spot on the NHL roster out of the gate. You could arguably say the same for both McLaughlin and Studnicka, who are looking more and more like NHL-ready products. All three players are among the group that Montgomery admits is making their decisions ‘tougher and tougher’ for Boston.

The Bruins’ third line will see Tomas Nosek moved from center to wing, which will align Joona Koppanen and Oskar Steen as the line’s center-right wing combo. Koppanen fed Steen a sweet feed for a shorthanded marker against the Rangers last week.

And on Boston’s fourth line, it will be Johnny Beecher between Jakub Lauko and Vinni Lettieri.

On the backend, the B’s will be led by a pairing featuring Mike Reilly to the left of Connor Clifton.

This is a pairing that you could very well see in the regular season for the Bruins, and one that got an 189-minute run at five-on-five last season, with the Bruins outshooting opponents 152-133 and outscoring them 5-4 over that sample, according to NaturalStatTrick.

Below that pairing, you’ll see Dan Renouf and Connor Carrick together, as well as Nick Wolff to the left of Jack Ahcan to round things out. All four players are fighting to be the ‘first man up’ from Providence in the event of an in-season injury to the Black an Gold blue line.

In net, Montgomery and the Bruins will roll with their ‘4K’ pairing, as it will be Kyle Keyser and Keith Kinkaid making the trek to New Jersey.

This duo split the preseason opener in Philly, and it was Kinkaid who got the start in that one, with a 14-of-15 performance in 29:57 before Keyser stepped in and put forth a 13-of-14 effort.