The Boston Bruins start a pivotal stretch for their playoff lives Thursday night when they begin a five-game road trip out West.

That trip begins against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas bested Boston at TD Garden in a 4-3 final on Feb. 8 in the only other meeting this season.

The Bruins take the ice still without Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm and look to snap a three-game losing streak in this matchup.

Boston enters play Thursday four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins have just 13 games remaining in the regular season.

Here are the projected lines for Thursday’s matchup between Boston and Vegas:

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BOSTON BRUINS (30-30-9)Morgan Geekie — Pavel Zacha — David Pastrnak Cole Koepke — Casey Mittelstadt — Vinni Letteri Marat Khusnutdinov — Elias Lindholm — Jakub Lauko

John Beecher — Patrick Brown — Mark Kastelic

Nikita Zadorov — Henri Jokiharju Mason Lohrei — Andrew Peeke

Parker Wotherspoon — Ian Mitchell

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Jeremy Swayman

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (39-20-8) Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark StoneBrandon Saad — Tomas Hertl — Pavel DorofeyevNicolas Roy — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith

Tanner Pearson — Brett Howden — Keegan Kolesar

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Nicolas Hague — Alex PietrangeloNoah Hanifin — Zach Whitecloud

Brayden McNabb — Kadean Korczak

Adin Hill

Featured image via Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images