In New Jersey for the middle game of their three-game road swing, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm is turning back to one his better lines this season.

It’s a simple tweak from Saturday’s lineup, too, as it will be Marat Khusnutdinov who replaces Morgan Geekie on Boston’s top line, and reunites the Khusnutdinov-Fraser Minten-David Pastrnak line for the Bruins.

Together for just under 70 minutes of five-on-five play this season, the Khusnutdinov-Minten-Pastrnak line (the ‘kid’ line, as Pastrnak has called it in the past) has outscored their opponents 9-3. That plus-6 goal differential is the second-best among Boston line with at least 60 minutes of action together, trailing only the plus-18 posted by the Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson line, which has basically been together from the jump this year without interruption.

“[The lines] did a good job last game, but I don’t know. I felt like there was something missing, like, as a group,” Sturm, whose team is coming off a shootout win over the Caps, said. “That’s why I went back to the kids line.”

In the past, this is a line that’s had some serious offensive-zone usage. And their most regular run as a line came with the Bruins still trying to figure out what Minten could and could not handle at this level. Things have changed since then, of course, with Minten looking like a legit piece for this club.

Regardless of their upcoming deployment, though, this is clearly Sturm’s latest jump to reignite his forward grouping. And it’s coming at a damn near perfect time for the club after two of the last three games for the Black and Gold have seen goals scored exclusively by the club’s blue liners.

With Khusnutdinov back in the top-line role, Geekie will slide back down to Boston’s third line, where he’ll skate with Elias Lindholm and Alex Steeves. That will drop Tanner Jeannot back down to the fourth line, while Mikey Eyssimont will exit the Black and Gold lineup as a healthy scratch.

Elsewhere in the lineup, Henri Jokiharju will jump back into the lineup in place of Andrew Peeke. Jokiharju, who has been scratched for the last seven games, comes into action with nine assists in 35 games this season.

And with this being the first leg of a back-to-back that’ll conclude Tuesday night in Montreal, the Bruins will turn to backup netminder Joonas Korpisalo against the lesser of the two teams. Korpisalo, who last played Mar. 8 in Pittsburgh, has given up five goals in back-to-back outings for the B’s.