As expected, the Bruins announced a handful of transactions prior to Monday\u2019s game against the Carolina Hurricanes after Saturday\u2019s costly win over the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n
But one overhanging \u2013 and vitally important \u2013 issue has not yet been cleared up. Top defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who left Saturday\u2019s game in the second period after taking a slapshot to the face in a scary scene, was not at the morning skate and coach Marco Sturm said there is no timeline on the blueliner at the moment. Sturm said McAvoy, who was able to travel home with the team from Montreal, was meeting with the doctors on Monday, which could produce a clearer update. Sturm said surgery is a possibility.<\/p>\n
While the B\u2019s planned to go with the six healthy defensemen they already had on the roster, there were a couple call-ups to bolster the forward group after Viktor Arvidsson, who suffered a lower body injury on Saturday, was placed on injured reserve. Sturm said he\u2019s out week-to-week. Casey Mittelstadt, who suffered a lower body injury on Nov. 6, was also placed on injured reserve.<\/p>\n
That allowed the B\u2019s to recall forwards Riley Tufte and Matej Blumel. Both were set to go into the lineup against the Hurricanes, with Blumel going in on the second line with Pavel Zacha and Alex Steeves and Tufte skating with Sean Kuraly and Mikey Eyssimont on the fourth line.<\/p>\n
To create cap space for the call-ups, defenseman Jordan Harris \u2013 already on regular IR with a broken ankle \u2013 was placed on Long-term Injured Reserve.<\/p>\n
With Elias Lindholm still out \u2013 though he did take part in the morning skate \u2013 that means three of the B\u2019s top-six forwards and their best defenseman are currently out.<\/p>\n
With the way the schedule is condensed because of the Olympics, you could almost predict that a juncture like this will occur for every team at one point or another.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we\u2019re not the only one. Montreal (is going through it as well),\u201d said Sturm. \u201cThere are some teams I\u2019ve already seen have a bunch of injuries. Some teams not. But it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s hard for my guys. It\u2019s hard for everyone in this league. You see (Sunday) we had a day off, we play today and (Tuesday) we fly to California. That\u2019s crazy. And that\u2019s why a lot of injuries will happen throughout the season. For us, right now, unfortunately a lot of good players are out. Sometimes you\u2019ve got to be lucky, too. But we feel very confident the guys stepping in will do the same job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like most players on the 12-2 Providence Bruins, both Tufte and Blumel were having good season in the AHL.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Tufte leads Providence in scoring and is fifth in the AHL with 8-8-16 totals in 13 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just deserves the call-up because he\u2019s been that good this season,\u201d said Sturm.<\/p>\n
Tufte brings some size (6-foot-6, 233 pounds) and an AHL-level scoring touch that has not yet translated to the NHL. In 24 NHL games between Dallas and Boston, he has two goals and an assist.<\/p>\n
What has he done well in Providence this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, score?\u201d said Tufte through his gap-toothed grin. \u201cI think I\u2019ve done a good job with that and just playing connected with my linemates. We\u2019ve been so good down there playing our system and being together, protecting pucks down low and getting to the net. For me, I try to get my frame in front of the goalie\u2019s eyes, so I\u2019ve been doing a good job with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It appears Providence has the makings of a special season.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, both organizations are playing good right now,\u201d said Tufte. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to go to the rink every day when you\u2019re winning. We lost down there (Sunday) night, but we\u2019ve been playing so well down there, it\u2019s just so fun to go to the rink. Guys are happy for each other getting called up. The camaraderie down there is awesome right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Blumel has an even higher profile AHL resume. He scored 31 and 39 goals the last two years with the Texas Stars before signing with the B\u2019s in the offseason.<\/p>\n
While Blumel felt he was close to making it out of camp, Sturm would not go that far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I remember in training camp is there were a lot of opportunities and I don\u2019t know if he was close or not, he just didn\u2019t make it,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cBut what I remember also is all those guys, Steeves and all those guys, the message they got from me is you\u2019ve got to wait for your opportunity. You\u2019ve got to work hard down there and prove to us you want to be up here. Now\u2019s your opportunity. That\u2019s how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blumel has 2-11-13 totals in 13 games in Providence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been better every game. Obviously I was disappointed to go down there and I was working on my game and it\u2019s gotten better. I\u2019ve been liking my game the last few games,\u201d said Blumel. \u201cI thought I was close (to making it out of training camp). I was surprised but I took the decision and I went down there to work and come back here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither call-up made much of an impact in the 3-1 loss. Blumel played 13:10 with one shot on net and one giveaway. Tufte played 15:13 and scored a power-goal in the waning seconds with the game well decided.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough league. It doesn\u2019t matter how well you play in the AHL. It\u2019s just a big step. I know that, too, and you could see it today. I know both can play better but, yeah, it\u2019s just a different league,\u201d said Sturm after the game\u2026<\/p>\n
Both David Pastrnak and Henri Jokiharju were charged with five giveaways apiece.<\/p>\n
John Beecher waived<\/p>\n
John Beecher, the B\u2019s first round pick in 2019 (30th overall), was placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Providence on Monday. In and out of the lineup, he had one goal in six games this year. Beecher possesses excellent speed for his size (6-3, 220 pounds) and is a good faceoff man who can kill penalties. He was a bubble player at the final cutdowns at the end of training camp but those attributes allowed him to hang on. But the 24-year-old center\/wing has had a difficult time establishing a consistent level of play. As teams incur injuries across, there is a danger he could get snatched up for nothing. We shall see if he clears by 2 p.m. on Tuesday. \u2026<\/p>\n
Though Elias Lindholm rejoined the team for morning skate, Sturm wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d accompany the team on their four-game road trip that begins in Anaheim on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As expected, the Bruins announced a handful of transactions prior to Monday\u2019s game against the Carolina Hurricanes after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,5789,28972,78919,44,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-292500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boston-bruins","11":"tag-bruins","12":"tag-charlie-mcavoy","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}