The Boston Bruins were able to avoid a late-game meltdown on Thursday night and come away with a 4-3 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres at the TD Garden. Leading 3-1 entering the third period, the Black and Gold allowed two goals to force overtime before Marat Khsunutdinov was able to win the game with his first goal of the season.
The win came at a high cost, however, after first-line center Elias Lindholm was injured in the second period on a hit from Jordan Greenway. He was down for a bit before he had trouble getting up and needed help to get off the ice. On Friday after practice at Warrior Ice Arena, head coach Marco Sturm said this is No. 1 center is going for an MRI, but will be out for a couple of weeks. That is not good for a group that is already very thin down the middle.
Marat Khusnutdinov's promotion
Sturm mixed up the lines going into the Buffalo game and moved Khusnutdinov up to the first line with David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm. After the latter went out with an injury, Khusnutdinov was fairly good in the middle, and at practice on Friday, he was centering the top line between Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie.
Khusnutdinov may not be an elite player, be he is a grinder that does a lot of the little things and can cause problems on the forecheck. He is also one of the fastest skaters on the team and can use his speed to create scoring chances for teammates. It'll be interesting to see how this works out against a very good Carolina Hurricanes team on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden. Pastrnak had a message for his new linemate.
"There’s a reason you got promoted to this line,'' Pastrnak said. "Your game got you here. So just play your game. I will adjust to you; you don’t have to adjust to me."
No starter named for Saturday in goal
Sturm rewarded Joonas Korpisalo with a second straight start on Thursday night and was rewarded with another great performance. Could he get a third start in five days when the Hurricanes come to town on Saturday?
Sturm would not tip his hand as to who would be between the pipes, and it is an interesting question. Does Sturm run it back with his hot goalie for a third straight game, or does he go to Jeremy Swayman after he gave up seven goals on Monday night in a 7-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators? The obvious choice is Swayman, but nobody saw Korpisalo starting back-to-back against the New York Islanders and Sabres.