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It’s anything but a slight to Joe Morrow, but the loss of puck-moving defenseman Torey Krug was a definitely noticeable one for the Boston Bruins in their 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center on Sunday night. And one game later, against the same opponent, the B’s offensive depth will be tested yet again with top-line center David Krejci out of action.
Injured in the second period of Sunday’s loss, the Bruins have confirmed that Krejci (upper-body) has been placed on the injured reserve and will be out ‘week-to-week’, and that Seth Griffith has been called up from the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League in this place.
“I think again he’s just finding his game,… Claude Julien said of Griffith, whose year began with a moderate leg injury sustained in preseason play (and a concussion with the P-Bruins shortly upon his return). “He was out obviously for a while, so he had to go there and find his game and I think he’s been much better as of late. Starting to be the Griff [Seth Griffith] that we know. So you know they brought him here in case we’re in need of him and we’ll see where we go from there.…
The 5-foot-9 Griffith has put forth a solid campaign with the P-Bruins to date, recording a team-leading 10 goals and 27 points in 24 games for the club this year, and comes back to the NHL with six goals and 10 points in 30 games at the NHL level (all of which came during the 2014-15 season).
The 22-year-old Griffith will serve as yet another option for Julien on a Boston forward corp that’s short on centers -- Krejci, Joonas Kemppainen, and Chris Kelly are all out of action for the club -- and is thus forced to shuffle the deck and promote Ryan Spooner to the middle of a line with Matt Beleskey to the left and Loui Eriksson to the right. It’s a solid bump for Spooner (whose overall game has been coming around after a slow start), and a chance for the line’s veterans, Eriksson in particular perhaps, to take on a lead-by-example/play type of role. But Julien wants that from everyone.
“I really think it’s always unfair to say, ‘Well it’s up to this guy, it’s up to this guy’, it’s up to the whole team,… said Julien. “If we can’t get everybody to step up then it’s going to be tough. So I think if you’re an athlete and you’re a competitor you want to take this situation and make it a positive one and say, ’Hey I have an opportunity here to help this team and maybe play a bigger role, maybe contribute in some ways where it wasn’t expected,’ and all of the sudden we’re still managing to win some hockey games here so. You know you’d like to think your group and your individuals are thinking that way.…
Replacing Krejci, deep down, is an impossible task. It doesn't matter if you think Krejci has a tendency to 'coast' during parts of the regular season or not, his impact on the game and through the attacking zone as a premier playmaking center is unmatched. At least on the B's.
In net, the Bruins are expected to once again go with Tuukka Rask. The 28-year-old took the loss behind a 19-of-21 effort on Sunday, but rolls into this one with five wins and a .953 save percentage in nine games this month. He’s been anything but the problem for the Bruins of late. Rask has seven wins (two shutouts) and a .924 save percentage in 14 career starts against the Senators.
Ottawa counters with Craig Anderson. The 34-year-old has been a monster over his last three contests -- two wins and just four goals allowed on 112 shots against (a .964 save percentage) -- including an impressive 38-of-39 showing against Boston on Sunday. He has seven wins and a .904 save percentage in 17 career games against the B’s, and three wins and an .897 in seven games at TD Garden.
This will be the second four meetings between the Bruins and Sens this season.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.