The Bruins might be getting a needed boost when they return to action on Monday night against the Flames in Calgary.

Jonathan Aspirot, who has been out of the lineup since Dec. 11 with an upper body injury, was on a second pairing with Hampus Lindholm in the B’s morning skate at the Saddledome as the struggling Andrew Peeke moved down to a third pairing with Mason Lohrei. The top pair of Nikita Zadorov-Charlie McAvoy remained intact.

Coach Marco Sturm termed Aspirot a game-time decision. At the moment, he is still on injured reserve and would have to be activated.

If he returns, the key question will be if the 26-year-old Aspirot can pick up where he left off. In his first 19 NHL games, the journeyman defenseman was a plus-8 and even bumped up to play top pairing with Zadorov when McAvoy was out with his broken jaw. That demonstrated he could play on the right side, something the left shot D-man will now be asked to do with Lindholm.

While it might be unfair to ask that an early season call-up from Providence will stop all of the bleeding for the B’s, who are on a five-game losing streak, it is hard to deny the positive impact he has had on the team, which is 14-5 with him in the lineup. He’s not expected to be much of a force in the offensive zone (1-0-1), but he skates well, is physical and closes quickly in the D-zone, where the B’s have been spending far too much time lately.

Meanwhile, Sturm stuck with the forward line combinations he had in Sunday’s practice, with Fraser Minten centering David Pastrnak, and Marat Khusnutdinov and Elias Lindholm between Morgan Geekie and Alex Steeves.

It’s an opportunity for the defensive-minded Minten to help the star Pastrnak (minus-12) get back on track.

“It’s a tricky one, he’s a young kid. As I told him today, nothing really changes. So hopefully nothing will change just because David is on his side,” Sturm told reporters in Calgary. “At the end of the day, I just want to him to play the same way he’s been playing. He’s been outstanding. Couldn’t ask for anything more. We just want to push that line and David to play good on both sides of the puck, with the puck and without the puck.”

Elias Lindholm had been centering the two top scorers in Pastrnak and Geekie,

“Obviously, we need to score more goals and spreading it out a little bit obviously can help. We tried these combinations before and it worked, so hopefully it’s a little wake-up call for everyone,” said the centerman.

Jeremy Swayman will face Dustin Wolf in the nets. Though the Flames started poorly and are minus-14 in goal differential, they are 10-5-2 at home and 7-3 in their last 10 games.