Bruins Bubble Notebook: Pastrnak to play against Columbus, Bruins pay tribute to Colby Cave & more

Despite only taking part in three full-squad practices since the start of Phase 3 workouts, David Pastrnak will be back in the lineup for Boston’s exhibition matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Bruce Cassidy confirmed Pastrnak’s status on Thursday afternoon, noting that the star forward would take part in Boston's lone tune-up ahead of round-robin play. The B’s winger took part in an optional skate Thursday morning alongside 16 other players, including Nick Ritchie, who returned to the ice for the first time since July 21. 

As expected, Pastrnak will skate back in his usual spot on Boston’s first line next to Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Even if he’s only been on the ice at a fraction of the time of some of his other teammates, Pastrank appears to have passed the eye test when it comes to keeping the rust off during his extended quarantine.

"He's looking good," Bergeron said. "We have some catching up to do, to catch up to him. He's looking great. Looking like Pasta pretty much, like he didn't miss a beat."

"It was a little frustrating watching him come back and realizing how far behind him we are," Marchand added. "It's been a lot of fun having him back, even just his energy that he brings to the table every day."

Even though Ritchie returned to the ice Thursday, the power forward will sit out of Boston’s matchup against the Jackets, with Anders Bjork and Karson Kuhlman set to rotate in and out of the third line next to Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly. 

As has been the case for most of Boston’s practices as of late, youngster Jack Studnicka will skate alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk on the second line — with Thursday standing as the first legitimate chance for Studnicka to stake his claim as a viable top-six option ahead of this playoff run. Expect both Bjork and Kuhlman to also cycle through reps next to Krejci. 

Given both the need to manage minutes — and assess players such as Studnicka/Bjork/Kuhlman vying for two spots — Cassidy said that the Bruins will dress 13 forwards and seven defensemen for Thursday’s matchup. John Moore will serve as the club’s seventh skater on the blue line, while both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak will split time in net. 

"I think we're going to play a pretty full lineup. … (I'd) be very surprised if anybody was much over, as a forward, up over 16 minutes anyway,” Cassidy said. “We're going to certainly try to look at that and not tax guys in an exhibition game. But sometimes situations dictate — there's a lot of special teams and the numbers add up. I don't mind extra minutes if it's power play, it's usually not that taxing, but if it's five-on-five and penalty kill? We want to make sure we manage it.”

Scouting the Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets may be far from the flashiest team in the field of 24 playoff clubs, but John Tortorella’s club is fixing to be one of the toughest outs during this revamped playoff slate. 

Even without the likes of Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, the Jackets managed to push themselves back into the playoff picture once again this season — an impressive feat, considering Columbus also ranked first among all NHL teams this season in man-games lost to injury at 352. 

Even without the return of key cogs like Seth Jones (ankle injury), Cam Atkinson (ankle), Oliver Bjorkstrand (ankle), Alexandre Texier (back) and Dean Kukan (knee), the Blue Jackets were going to be a thorn in the sides of opponents this postseason, thanks to the club’s adherence to a stingy, tenacious defensive structure that regularly clogs up shooting lanes and limits Grade-A chances.

Despite Columbus’ frustrating style of play, Cassidy believes the Bruins should benefit from matching up against an opponent that doesn’t surrender all that much in the offensive zone. 

“I think it is good for us to force us to accept what's there, if there's ice open in front of their defenseman, where you can make plays and get to the blue line with speed? Do it,” Cassidy said. “If it's not, you’ve got to play behind them early on until you can stretch them out a little bit and create some open ice. So that'll be good for us. We haven't seen, other than some scrimmages against each other, anybody else in a long time. 

“No different than anybody else in that regard. And I do expect them to play that way — simply because they're gonna play Toronto who, as a high-octane offensive team, and my guess — I'm not, you know, their staff — is that their way to beat them is to defend, defend, defend and capitalize on turnovers. That's kind of what got them in the position to play in the playoffs with all their injuries and some of their better players out. So I don't see why they’d trend away from that.”

Bruins to honor Colby Cave

As seen in the video below, the Bruins will honor the memory of their former teammate, Colby Cave, by sporting stickers on their helmets featuring the number 26 — his jersey number with Boston. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1288878853230927872

Cave passed away back in April while in a medically induced coma following surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain. He was just 25 years old. 

Cave, who spent five seasons in the Bruins organization before later playing for the Oilers, was honored by Edmonton with a video tribute and a moment of silence before the Oilers’ exhibition matchup against the Flames on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1288302947156103168

Coyle wins 7th Player Award 

For the second year in a row, a Massachusetts native was the apple of the eye of Bruins fans, as Weymouth native Charlie Coyle was named as the recipient of NESN’s 7th Player Award for the 2019-20 season on Wednesday evening. 

Coyle was selected by a fan vote on NESN.com. NESN's 7th Player Award is an annual award presented to the Bruin who exceeded the expectations of Bruins fans during the season.

Even without a defined set of linemates for most of the season, Coyle was a constant as the driver of Boston’s third line — tallying 16 goals and 37 total points over 70 games in his first full season with the Bruins.

Given Coyle’s on-ice production, his hometown ties and his efforts during last season’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, Wednesday’s announcement was hardly a surprise. While I went with Brandon Carlo as my pick for 7th Player Award back in March, Coyle served as my runner-up.  

Past recipients of NESN’s 7th Player Award currently on the Bruins include Chris Wagner (2019), Charlie McAvoy (2018), David Pastrnak (2017, 2015), Brad Marchand (2016, 2011), Tuukka Rask (2010) and David Krejci (2009).