The Bruins are already taking on the talented Dallas Stars without defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Andrew Peeke. Now it appears as though there is a forward who is at least questionable for Thursday’s tilt at American Airlines Center (8 pm).
The B’s, who had only the minimum 12 forwards on the two-game road trip, announced on Thursday afternoon that they had called up veteran forward Patrick Brown, who has 3-4-7 totals in 12 games for the P-Bruins. Whether he’ll play or has been brought up for precautionary reasons remains to be seen. The B’s held an optional skate in the morning.
Meanwhile, the B’s not only hope to gain some team-wide momentum from their come-from-behind win in St. Louis on Tuesday, but a couple of prominent B’s could use some building on their personal mojo as well. Both David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy both broke out slumps against the Blues, registering a goal and an assist each with Pastrnak getting the game-winner.
While the B’s allowed two power-play goals to what had been the league’s worst PP in the St. Louis to fall behind 2-0, coach Jim Montgomery saw a lot of good signs throughout the game.
“I thought last game for 60 minutes, except for a special teams spell in the second ,that we were a really good hockey team — consistent, our O-zone time was drastically improved and I think that O-zone time we spent in the first and second, 5-on-5, led to us being able to expose the Blues in the third,” Montgomery told reporters in Dallas. “It builds over time. It’s not something that pops right away, when you’re trying to make people defense all the time.”
Captain Brad Marchand said the B’s, at 8-7-2 and still looking to break out of a large pack of mediocre teams, can’t be overly happy with the win in St. Louis.
“I think the biggest thing for us is understanding though we had a good game last game, or good areas of the game, we have to continue to reset and have the same mentality that we did in the third to start the game, understanding how important each detail is within our structure,” said Marchand. “And not getting away from that. Sometimes you get down by a goal or you make a bad play and you start to deviate from the plan. Where we have success is when we continue to build and not change our process and we stick to our structure.”
Veteran defenseman Jordan Oesterle, called up on Wednesday for the injured Lindholm, will make his Bruin debut and will be paired with Parker Wotherspoon.