Outside of injury-related changes, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm has stuck with what’s worked over the life of Boston’s six-game win streak.

But the Black and Gold’s hunt for a seventh straight win will come with some tweaks on the backend, with Mason Lohrei projected to remain in Boston’s lineup, even with the return of Charlie McAvoy from a personal matter.

Sturm’s decision to keep Lohrei in for a second straight appearance comes after what was a strong bounce-back performance in Toronto last weekend.

A healthy scratch for five straight games, Lohrei posted two assists, along with a plus-2 rating, one hit, one block, and a shot on goal. The Bruins also outshot Toronto by an 8-2 mark with Lohrei on the ice at five-on-five play.

It’s been a weird few weeks for Lohrei, all things considered. He’s recorded one goal and five assists over his last four games, but has a five-game scratching in the middle of the run. But it’s certainly worth noting that Lohrei’s last two multi-point efforts have come when separated from McAvoy.

“I thought Mason deserves to play, [and] he played good enough [last game],” Sturm offered. “Hopefully they can stabilize that third pair with those kind of minutes we need throughout the game.”

The Bruins have not thrown a Lohrei-Jokiharju pairing out there much at all in 2025-26, with the duo together for just 11:55 of time on ice, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. Over that nearly 12-minute sample, the Bruins have been out-chanced 11-3 and outshot 9-3, but do hold a 1-0 edge in goals. 

And with Lohrei staying in and McAvoy back, the Bruins will indeed scratch Jonathan Aspirot from the lineup for this contest. In action for six games since being called up from Providence, Aspirot has totaled 10 blocks and 14 hits, along with a plus-1 rating, with the Big B’s. Sturm also made it a point to say that removing Aspirot from the lineup had nothing to do with his play.

[Aspirot] did absolutely nothing wrong,” Sturm said. “I liked his game, and he will be back at one point. I just want to see those guys.” 

With a win, the Bruins would be on their longest single-season win streak since ending the 2022-23 season on an eight-game win streak.