Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
The Boston Bruins head into Saturday night in Los Angeles on a four-game winning streak, with their latest win coming after a comeback. Now, they will face the Kings without center Pavel Zacha. The Pavel Zacha injury is listed as upper-body. Head coach Marco Sturm said Zacha will not play, according to NESN’s Adam Pellerin. There is currently no timetable for his return.
Lineup Changes Against the Kings
Zacha is not the only regular out of the lineup. Sturm made defenseman Nikita Zadorov a healthy scratch. The Boston Globe reported that Zadorov was benched because of two penalties against Frank Vatrano on Friday evening.
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The two moves forced Sturm to shuffle his lineup. Aspirot moved into the lineup for Zadorov. Kuraly enters at forward and will play on the fourth line. Poitras will center the second line between Peterka and Khusnutdinov. Minten moves up to the top line with Geekie and Pastrnak. Swayman got the start in net.
Pavel Zacha Injury History
This is not the first time an upper-body injury has knocked Zacha out of the lineup. On Jan. 29, 2026, he left a home game against the Philadelphia Flyers midway through the second period and did not return. He had scored his 15th goal of the season in the first period. His final shift ended at 13:05 of the second. Zacha logged 10:46 of ice time on 12 shifts before he exited. Boston led 3-1 when he left and went on to win 6-3. The Bruins announced on social media that he would not return.
Zacha’s season took a bigger hit about two weeks later. Czechia lost him for the Olympics because of an injury.
With the Bruins on a four-game run, the next update on Zacha will likely decide how long Sturm keeps his reshuffled lines together.