The Bruins are back on the West Coast and turning the page toward a four-game road trip that begins Tuesday night in San Jose. Boston didn’t practice Monday after landing in San Jose in the afternoon, but that changes today, when the club hits the ice and gets a clearer picture of the defense pairs.
Charlie McAvoy is set to return against the Sharks, and the key question is who lines up next to him. Frederic Brunet got time on McAvoy’s left during training camp.
Jonathan Aspirot spent most of last season paired with McAvoy. Mason Lohrei is also in the mix, and that choice is less straightforward now than it might have been earlier in the year after Lohrei’s first six games.
That uncertainty comes with Boston having held its own without McAvoy. The Bruins have gone 4-2-0 through those six games and answered back-to-back losses with a pair of wins that produced an 11-2 combined edge. On the blue line, Mason Lohrei and Hampus Lindholm have each put up four points, with Lohrei at 2-2-4 and Lindholm at 1-3-4.
After Saturday’s 5-1 win, Sturm said Brunet was the defenseman who was a “surprise” in his eyes during the first six games.
Around the league, the Flyers’ nightmare start only got uglier. Philadelphia lost again yesterday and is now off to the worst start in franchise history.
The noise around the team is getting louder, too, with fans booing the club off the ice and chanting “Fire Tocchet” after the latest defeat. Travis Konecny, who was initially labeled “day-to-day,” has been placed on IR, and the Flyers used the opening to call up 21-year-old defenseman Oliver Bonk before last night’s game.
Trevor Zegras backed Tocchet afterward, saying the team is “fully behind” their head coach, but Tocchet still didn’t have much of an answer for what’s gone wrong. Philly Hockey Now’s Will James was in Boston for Saturday’s 5-1 loss, and one day later Tocchet again stressed the need to “stick together.”
The Sharks provide the next test for Boston, and Macklin Celebrini is back in the lineup after missing two games. Sheng Peng had additional insight from San Jose’s game on Saturday as the Bruins prepare to see him again tomorrow night.
Elsewhere, Sportsnet wondered if Father Time is catching up to John Tavares, with Michael Amato writing that the 36-year-old looks a step behind and that the Maple Leafs should think about moving him to the wing. The piece also touched on other Sunday overreactions, including Tocchet’s growing heat in Philadelphia.
There was also a bit of goaltending intrigue out of New York, where the Rangers are without Igor Shesterkin for the rest of the season and Joonas Korpisalo is also expected to miss four weeks. Emily Kaplan reported that Jonathan Quick, now the Rangers’ director of goaltending development, could be a possibility to play in the meantime.
And in Detroit, Red Wings prospect Adam Levac has been handed an indefinite suspension by the OHL for the second time in less than a year. Levac charged into Sudbury Wolves forward Mason Walker after Walker scored to make it 7-3, and he had already been suspended eight games last season for a vicious slewfoot.
In Other News...
Bruins Push Comes With One Offensive Pressure Point
The Bruins are trying to carry some of last seasons late push into a new year, and one of the quieter themes coming out of camp is where the offense has to come from beyond the forward lines. Boston got itself into the Stanley Cup Playoffs under Marco Sturm despite a sluggish start, and the coach has been clear that the next step is building a more dangerous attack from the blue line. It is not just about puck movement or clean exits, but about defensemen making themselves part of the scoring answer more often.
Mason Lohrei has given that idea a timely boost. The young defenseman has come through with important goals in each of the last two games, helping the Bruins in wins and giving Sturm a useful example of the kind of contribution he wants to see more consistently. Whether that becomes a real trend will matter for a Boston team that is still trying to define how much offense it can expect from its back end. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Blue Line Suddenly Has A Tough McAvoy Decision
Charlie McAvoy is back for the Bruins after serving a six-game suspension, and his return comes at the start of a tough California road trip that immediately asks coach Marco Sturm to reshuffle his blue line. The first practice look had Hampus Lindholm beside McAvoy on the top pairing, with Nikita Zadorov and Will Borgen together and rookie Frederic Brunet alongside Mason Lohrei, giving Boston a new defensive alignment to sort through on the fly.
The most notable ripple from that change is the fate of Connor Clifton, who appears headed for a scratch despite leading the Bruins in ice time in the previous game. For a team trying to steady itself on the road, that is a real decision point, because McAvoys return restores a top-end presence while also forcing Boston to decide which defenseman gets squeezed out of the rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Blue Line Questions Arent Gone Just Because Charlie McAvoy Is Back
Charlie McAvoy is back from his suspension, and the Bruins wasted little time reshuffling the blue line around him. At practice, McAvoy skated with Hampus Lindholm on the top defensive pair, while Nikita Zadorov and Will Borgen worked together on the second unit and Mason Lohrei lined up with Frederic Brunet on the third.
Coach Marco Sturm suggested those looks are the most likely combinations for the upcoming game against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. It gives Boston a clearer picture for now, but it also underscores that the defensive puzzle is still being sorted out even with McAvoy available again. [Read more 🡒]