Bruins Notebook: Bjork given another chance on Bergeron line; Cassidy doesn't rule out a return for Rask

For the third straight game, the Bruins are going to be without their top scorer in David Pastrnak — with Bruce Cassidy noting on Monday morning that the B's top right wing is "not available" for Game 4 of Boston's first-round series against the Hurricanes.

As such, the Bruins will once again be asking a young winger to fill the void left by Pastrnak on Boston's top line of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. At first glance, it would appear as though Anders Bjork had taken himself out of the running for the coveted spot, given his showing during Saturday's Game 3 victory.

Ultimately, Bjork logged just 7:05 of ice time in Saturday's matinee matchup at Scotiabank Arena, landing zero shots on goal. While his inability to generate quality looks might have caused some consternation from Boston's coaching staff, what truly put Bjork in Cassidy' doghouse was his discipline — or lack thereof, as Bjork took three penalties in his limited TOI. After getting whistled for a tripping penalty in the offensive zone in the opening minutes of the third period, Bjork spent the rest of the third period on the pine, with both Charlie Coyle and Chris Wagner picking up the lost reps on Bergeron's line.

Despite that step back, it appears as though Cassidy hasn't lost faith in the Notre Dame product, as Bjork will once again be given a shot with Bergeron and Marchand to start Game 4.

Even though Bjork spent most of Game 3 in the sin bin, that revamped top line has managed to generate some pretty impressive puck-possession metrics so far this series — with Boston holding an edge in shot attempts (17-10), shots on goal (15-5) and scoring chances (10-7) in the 63-37-10 line's 12 minutes of 5v5 time on ice together this season.

"At the end of the day, the message to him is just play your game," Cassidy said. "You're not going to replace Pasta. We're not expecting you to go out and be what David is to us now. David's much further along in his development. Went through some of what Anders went through, albeit at a younger age. We're just asking him to play well, get on pucks, have a good stick. The other day he was trying to create some turnovers and unfortunately didn't get under people, got over the top of them and got called a few times. So he has to eliminate that. You can't take your linemates out of the game and force them to kill penalties.

"We discussed it. He came in, he gets it. He's a young guy that we feel will help us. Certainly had some good looks the first few games, didn't finish them. So that's the way we're going to start it. If we have to make a switch in-game, we will, but I have a feeling he'll bounce back. He's been a good player for us, good complementary guy, and that's what we're asking him to do for that line, complement that line and we'll see where it leads us."

A return for Rask?

The Bruins are set to continue their march back to the Stanley Cup Final with Jaroslav Halak in net, but it isn't a forgone conclusion that Boston's shorthanded goaltending corps will remain in its current state for the remainder of this postseason run.

While Tuukka Rask opted to leave the Toronto bubble on Saturday in order to be with his family, the Vezina Trophy finalist is technically eligible to return at a later date if both he and the organization sign off on such a decision — with Rask likely having to complete a 14-day quarantine before being allowed back in the bubble.

"I guess, I mean Tuukka would best be able to answer that," Cassidy said. "We exchanged texts today, left him a message, so he's doing well, his family is doing well, so that's very encouraging for everyone in the Bruins organization. As we said before, we support Tuukka, we wish him well, we want nothing but the best for him and his family.

"Should circumstances change there where he feels he can come back to the club then I think we'll cross that bridge when we come and see what it involves. Obviously, the NHL is OK with it and that's how we’d handle that. I wasn't involved in the conversation when he spoke to (Don Sweeney) so that's probably another question for Donnie as well if they even bridge that."

Of course, even if the Bruins advance far enough to a point where Rask could potentially return, it would seem



rather unlikely that such a move would take place. Not only would a player already making a difficult decision as Rask did likely not want to then flip the script and return just a few weeks/month later, it'd also be far from a given that Rask could simply regain his spot atop the depth chart — especially if Boston has advanced through a round or two with Halak as the No. 1 option in net.

So while it remains a faint possibility that Boston could have its two veteran netminders back in the fold later this postseason, the more likely scenario involves Halak remaining the man between the pipes (with Dan Vladar and Max Lagace as backups) — and Rask committing to his decision to remain with his family.

"He's our guy, he's proven that right now, the other guys have not," Cassidy said of Halak's availability this postseason, especially with a potential back-to-back looming in Games 5 and 6.  "Not saying they couldn't handle it and we may have to look at the game five and six back to back, but I don't want to get that far ahead. Let's get through tomorrow night’s game and let's see where Jaro is at. He has played back to back for us, you know a couple of years ago we needed him to do that, so he's a guy that we've seen do it and have success."

Carolina expected to be without Svechnikov for remainder of postseason 

If the Hurricanes are going to punch back this series and best the B's in this best-of-seven matchup, they're going to have to do it without one of their key cogs up front.

After suffering an ugly leg injury in the third period of Saturday's Game 3 loss to Boston, Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov is not expected to return for the remainder of this series, if not the rest of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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While the team has yet to announce the results of Svechnikov's MRI, Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said on Sunday that he'd "highly doubt" Svechnikov returns to game action soon after his knee appeared to crumple while getting tangled up with Zdeno Chara down low in front of Boston's net.

Carolina still has plenty of star power present on its roster with the likes of Sebastian Aho and Dougie Hamilton, but the case could be made that Svechnikov has been the Hurricanes' most consistent performer so far in this series against Boston. Along with his two-point showing (one goal, one assist) in Carolina's Game 2 victory, the 20-year-old winger has been a physical force whenever he's hopped over the boards — landing 14 hits in his three games against the Bruins.

For the Hurricanes, who have both overloaded their top line of Teuvo Teräväinen, Aho and Svechnikov and broken them up in order to cause matchup issues for Boston — that flexibility has been all but negated with Svechnikov knocked out of commission. Expect plenty of reps for Bergeron's line as the defensive stopper whenever both Aho and Teräväinen are out on the ice together for the remainder of this series.

Bruins sign Lynnfield’s Matt Filipe to entry-level contract

Not only are the Bruins currently ahead of Carolina in their best-of-seven series, they're also snagging a few skaters away from the Canes' prospect pool as well.

On Sunday night, the Bruins announced that they have signed Lynnfield's Matt Filipe to a two-year, entry-level contract, adding yet Massachusetts native into their pipeline of promising talent. Filipe was originally drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round (67th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft, but opted to not sign with Carolina after wrapping up his collegiate career at Northeastern. Filipe officially became a free agent after not inking a deal with the Hurricanes on Aug. 15.

 

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Thrilled to sign my first NHL contract with the team I grew up idolizing. Huge thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point! @nhlbruins ?

A post shared by Matt Filipe (@mfilipe4) on Aug 16, 2020 at 5:44pm PDT