And the hits just keep on coming for the Boston Bruins.
Losing Shawn Thornton (suspension pending) for his heinous mugging of Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik and Loui Eriksson (concussion) in last night's physical, thrilling comeback win over the Penguins, the Bruins' man-down count hit three shortly after.
With postgame confirmation of a slash that injured Boston’s third line center and penalty-killer Chris Kelly, initially dubbed a lower-body injury that’d prevent Kelly from traveling to Toronto with the club by coach Claude Julien, it may be time to prepare for a long time absence from No. 23 with the report that the ‘lower-body injury’ is a fractured right fibula.
Reportedly broken on a second period slash from Pascal Dupuis, Kelly went on to play in the third period for the Bruins, and finished the night with a blocked shot and a hit to his name.
Just last year, the Bruins lost Kelly for 14 games with a broken tibia, but managed to win seven of those 14 sans Kelly contests, and even maintained their strong penalty-kill game over that stretch. And though the 33-year-old Kelly has scored three goals and totaled seven points in 29 games this year, his biggest impact has (like it has from day one) been on the Bruins’ penalty-kill unit, which entered Sunday with an 85% success rate, the eighth best mark in the league.
Part of the Bruins’ second unit penalty-killing forward pair -- coincidentally paired with Eriksson -- the loss of Kelly puts more pressure on Gregory Campbell to be the rock down the middle behind Patrice Bergeron when the club’s shorthanded. It will also likely force top-line center and power-play quarterback David Krejci back into the penalty-killing mix.
It’s not an ideal situation for Claude Julien’s squad, but one that seems manageable given the club’s emphasis on a strong two-way game. Your one-two PK punch will still be Bergeron and Brad Marchand, your second unit becomes Campbell and Danny Paille, and your third becomes Krejci and Reilly Smith or in certain situations maybe Jarome Iginla.
Again, not ideal. But not a deathblow either.
Well, maybe tonight it might be.
In a rare Sunday night battle up in Toronto, the Bruins will be a team with a shorthanded special teams game. And that’s not something you want to hear when you’re going against the Toronto power-play. The Leafs enter tonight’s game with a 34.9 percent success rate on the power-play at the Air Canada Centre in 2013-14, and are on the heels of a huge shootout win over Ottawa last night.
But how can the Bruins combat a clear power-play advantage for the Maple Leafs?
With some faith in their kids.
Calling Providence top-liners Ryan Spooner and Matt Fraser up from the American Hockey League to fill the void left by Kelly and Eriksson, the two newest faces in town will likely log some actual minutes tonight on the Bruins’ third line. With Carl Soderberg projected to be on Fraser’s opposite wing, the Black-and-Gold will simply have to trust the skill-set of both Fraser and Spooner this time around, and that doesn’t seem like something they should have too difficult of a time doing -- if they’re patient enough.
Fraser doesn’t come into the Bruins’ big picture with a huge NHL resume to his name -- he scored just one goal and three points in 13 games with Dallas over the previous two seasons -- but he does enter Boston’s mix with the second most goals in the AHL this year (16), and even scored a hat trick just two nights ago. And Spooner, with two assists in two NHL games this year, is a center whose skill has never been in question in brief stints with Boston, and may finally have the chance to show that he's completely ready to put AHL bus rides in his rear view mirror.
They have the goods to be impact players in the attacking zone if they’re given the ice time.
Jordan Caron will replace the suspended Thornton on the fourth line.
There’s been no confirmation as to who will get the nod in net for the Bruins, but if I were a betting man I’d say that there’s a good chance that you’ll see Tuukka Rask in net for the second night in a row. While this game is the second leg of a back-to-back (and on the road no less), the Bruins’ recent five-day layoff gave Rask plenty of time to rest up, and with a Canadian road swing including stops in Calgary and Edmonton on tap for this week, it looks like Rask can certainly get a breather later in the week if he plays tonight. That and the fact that the 26-year-old has a lethal 9-1-0 record and .951 save percentage against the Maple Leafs in just 12 career games seems to help.
If not, Chad Johnson will go.