Stafford in for Bruins, Beleskey and Hayes out vs. Devils

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BRIGHTON, Mass. – Newly acquired Drew Stafford is in, and Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey are back out for the Bruins, as they ready for the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden on Saturday night.

Hayes has played better under interim coach Bruce Cassidy as part of the B’s revamped third line with Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano, but he still had only managed to put up a pair of assists in the nine games since the coaching change. So, the message to Hayes is simple with Stafford coming on board: More production is needed, and Hayes will get another chance to get into the lineup and do something about it at some point in the future.

“On paper [Stafford] could be a good fit for that line,” said Cassidy. “If you look at what Vatrano and Spooner do well, they play with speed and that will force [Stafford] to keep up and he’s a guy that can finish off some plays that they will make for him. He’ll go to the net and I think that’s important. It could be a good fit for him.

“[Hayes] has played very well for what we’ve asked him to do. That line has played well and it’s been a positive line for us. They’ve scored some goals and kept the puck out of their own net. We’re just making a switch. Do we want more production from Jimmy? Yes. We want more production from every line if we can get it. That’s what was addressed to him. He’s doing a good job, and we’ll put Stafford in there [vs. the Devils]. Monday is a new day and we’ll see how it all shakes out. It’s no disrespect to Jimmy’s game because he’s done what we’ve asked him to do over the last three weeks.”

For now, Stafford will plug in for Hayes on the third-line right wing and the Bruins will also switch sides on the bottom pairing with the righty-shooting Colin Miller trying the left side while pushing Kevan Miller back to his natural position. 

Anton Khudobin will get the start between the pipes against the New Jersey Devils and look for his third consecutive win while giving Tuukka Rask a needed rest day.

Here are the projected line combos and D-pairings vs. the Devils based on morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena:

 
Marchand-Bergeron-Backes

Cehlarik-Krejci-Pastrnak

Vatrano-Spooner-Stafford

Schaller-Moore-Nash

 
Chara-Carlo

Krug-McQuaid

C. Miller-K. Miller

 
Khudobin 

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