Boston Bruins: David Pastrnak To Miss Road Trip
Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
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The Boston Bruins Bruins will be without David Pastrnak for at least another three games. The talented young winger will not be traveling with the Bruins on their upcoming road trip which includes tough games against the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens. After the Bruins practice on Wednesday, Claude Julien told reporters “He’s going to be staying behind for the weekend”. Pastrnak will have a little more time to rest his bruised foot which was damaged during the third period of the Bruins game against the Arizona Coyotes last week. After being too greatly affected by his ailment during the Bruins next two games, Pastrnak sat out for the Bruins blow-out loss versus the Dallas Stars with Alexander Khokhlachev taking his place on the Bruins top line.
David Pastrnak has been off to a hot-and-cold start for the Bruins so far during the 2015-16 season, scoring two goals and adding two assists for four points in his ten games played. Additionally, Pastrnak has seemed lost at times and has had trouble with puck-possession time, often losing momentum for the Bruins in the offensive zone. It’s important to remember that Pastrnak is still only 19 years old and ten games is too small of a sample size to judge him too harshly. For now, Pastrnak needs to simply worry about recovering from his foot injury and then rejoining the Bruins lineup sooner rather than later, especially now that veteran forward Chris Kelly will miss the remainder of the season as a result of a fractured femur.
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As mentioned, Alexander Khokhlachev skated alongside David Krejci and Loui Eriksson on the Bruins top-line, and he looked comfortable playing at the fast-paced NHL level in his first game of the season. After lighting up the AHL for thirteen points in ten games, Khokhlachev is looking to prove his value at the next level to avoid being sent back down the road to Providence. Khokhlachev skated for a total of 14:02 of ice time, but the limited ice time was more likely a result of Chris Kelly being taken out of the game just three seconds into his first shift than anything. With a player down and only 11 remaining in the lineup, Claude Julien had to jumble the lines throughout the game to get the most from his forward group.
It’s likely that David Pastrnak reclaims his roster spot as soon as he’s healthy, but what isn’t certain is where Alexander Khokhlachev ends up by then. If Khokhlachev can gel together with Krejci and Eriksson quickly enough, then Julien will have some tough decisions to make.
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