McLaughlin continues to make a push, B’s dodge major injuries & more takeaways from Bruins’ preseason win over Flyers

The Bruins continued their preseason slate with a 4-0 win against the Flyers at TD Garden on Saturday. Here are some takeaways from Boston’s second preseason tilt on Causeway Street.

Box Score

 Lysell, Hall suffer ‘minor’ injuries

Preseason hockey might be a time for teams to evaluate prospects and assess various battle battles across the depth chart — but at the end of the day, the most important objective during these sleepy days of September and October is fielding a healthy roster once the regular season actually commences.

And even though the Bruins posted their second win of the preseason by way of a 4-0 win over Philly on Saturday, they didn’t leave the game unscathed — as both Fabian Lysell and Taylor Hall exited the contest early and did not return.

However, Jim Montgomery did offer up some good news postgame, stating that both Hall and Lysell aren’t expected to miss all that much time moving forward.

"I don't have confirmation exactly what it is, but they're both minor,” Montgomery said of Lysell and Hall. “Like they might miss a day or two of practice, that would be max."

Lysell, slotted up into the top six in place of David Pastrnask, was felled by a heavy check from Rasmus Ristolainen in the first period — with the 19-year-old winger hunched over in pain and needing help getting off the ice.  

Fabian Lysell heads right down the tunnel after taking this hit from Rasmus Ristolainen: pic.twitter.com/HGOWOCHUEM

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 1, 2022

Even though the writing seems to be on the wall that Lysell will open the year with Providence, it does seem as though Boston is not looking to send him down to the AHL quite yet, especially now that he could be in play for more preseason games in the coming week. 

"We were fearful that it was his shoulder, but thankfully, it's not,” Montgomery said of Lysell. “And also the first 10 minutes I thought he was the best player on the ice in the game. So a lot of good things for him to grow his confidence from as a pro."

Marc McLaughlin continues to fight for minutes

When it comes to assessing Marc McLaughlin’s odds of cracking the NHL roster out of camp, it initially seemed like a losing battle from the start for the young forward, considering that he is exempt from waivers while other potential bottom-six candidates are not so lucky. 

As such, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if the Bruins wanted see what they have in players with less rope available in October/November, and then potentially turn to McLaughlin further down the line after he marinates down in Providence for a few months.

But McLaughlin is making it pretty hard on Boston to follow such a script, because the Billerica native has routinely been one of the more consistent and effective forwards during camp and preseason action. 

McLaughlin was rewarded on the score sheet Saturday by scoring two goals against Philly, tipping a Jack Ahcan point shot into twine during the second period before jamming another puck past Troy Grosenick in the third. 

Given his solid, two-way game and a sneaky wrister that could see him develop into a 10-15 goal scorer down the road, McLaughlin would seem to be the ideal candidate for the B’s vacant 4RW spot. Ultimately, it might come down to how Oskar Steen (not waivers exempt) responds in these next few preseason games, because an assignment to Providence would absolutely not be an indictment on McLaughlin’s game. 

"Yeah, I mean he had a really impactful game,” Montgomery said. “It's great. We have a lot of depth up front and on the back end. So decisions are getting tougher and tougher and that's what we as coaches and management, we're looking to see.”

Beecher breaks through 

At this point in camp, a youngster like Johnny Beecher has been lost in the shuffle a bit when it comes to the fourth-line competition — especially following the emergence of A.J. Greer and the continued presence of vets like Chris Wagner, Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek.

But Beecher continued what has been a recurring theme all preseason when it comes to Boston’s fourth-line candidates doing everything they can to remain in the mix for playing time, as the 21-year-old pivot responded on Saturday by scoring a pair of goals in the third period.

It was a bit of a slow start for Beecher in this one, but the 2019 first-round pick grew more confident as the game continued – showcasing that trademark speed on his empty-net tally that officially iced this one. 

"I thought he was a little hesitant early on, as our whole group was,” Montgomery said of Beecher. “We seemed to get better throughout the game and so did he. I think after he scored that goal he really started to show his elite skating."

Odds and ends

• Even with Boston’s top-six grouping all jumbled up following Lysell and Hall’s exits, the B’s were still pleased with how both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci fared in their preseason debuts — with both pivots growing stronger as the game continued on. During the 21:08 of 5v5 ice time in which Bergeron or Krejci were out on the ice, Boston held a 16-2 edge in shots on goal against Philly. 
• Nick Wolff will likely be heading down to Providence in the coming days, but the 6-foot-5 blueliner did make his presence felt in Saturday’s win, dropping the gloves with scrapper Zack MacEwen after the Flyers skater cross-checked Nick Foligno. A couple of nice hooks delivered by the big-bodied defenseman.