The final game of the preseason is usually the closest resemblance of an opening night roster. That was the case for the Bruins’ roster for Thursday’s game in Philadelphia.

It won’t be the case for their preseason finale in Chicago on Saturday.

Almost every veteran, including Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Tuukka Rask and David Krejci (to name a few), will be staying home on Saturday and get an early head start on preparations for the regular season. Notable vets suiting up include Riley Nash, Ryan Spooner and Anton Khudobin, who gets the nod between the pipes for the second time this preseason.

Saturday’s matchup gives Bruce Cassidy, Don Sweeney and company one more chance to evaluate players battling for the final roster spots.

“There’s still a few guys where we want to get a little bit of a read on, if some guys jump off the page a little bit for future call-ups,” Cassidy told the press during Saturday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena.

“Everyone is in a different spot. There are some guys that are in the lineup that need to sharpen up their games. As a team you want to continue to build on your identity and be hard to play against, make sure we’re playing with pace and executing the things we’re asking.”

Up front, Teddy Purcell hopes to turn a PTO into a contract, while Frank Vatrano and Tim Schaller hope to fend off prospects like Sean Kuraly and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson to fill out the bottom six. On the back end, Matt Grzeclyk, Rob O’Gara and Paul Postma are all eying to fill Torey Krug’s void for the first few games. Krug, who suffered a jaw injury last Tuesday against the Red Wings, skated on his own for the first time in over a week.

To fill the roster, the Bruins called up Tommy Cross, Jordan Szwarz and Jakub Zboril from Providence. Chris Breen and Connor Clifton will also be making the trip.

Kenny Agostino, who was placed on waivers on Friday, went unclaimed and will likely report to Providence.

Here’s a look at the projected lineup for the preseason finale at the United Center.

Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-Danton Heinen
Tim Schaller-Riley Nash-Noel Acciari
Jake DeBrusk-Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson-Teddy Purcell
Sean Kuraly-Jordan Szwarz-Frank Vatrano

Rob O’Gara-Paul Postma
Matt Grzeclyk-Tommy Cross
Chris Breen-Jakub Zboril

Anton Khudobin
Malcolm Subban