The Bruins have added some reinforcements for their blue line.
The club announced Sunday evening that defenseman Matt Bartkowski has been recalled from their American Hockey League affiliate in Providence on an emergency basis. The Bruins also placed defenseman Mark Stuart on injured reserve.
Stuart has been out since Dec. 7 with a broken right hand that was expected to sideline him 4-6 weeks. He has resumed skating on his own, but has not yet practiced with the team. Even though Stuart was finally placed on IR to open up a roster spot for Bartkowski, it’s another injury that necessitated this recall.
The Bruins have been going with just six healthy defensemen since Stuart was injured, with no spare healthy bodies on the blue line as Steven Kampfer was already recalled last month to replace Stuart. It’s not known at this point which of the other blueliners may not be able to play Monday, but there are several possibilities.
Adam McQuaid played sparingly Saturday night after a late first-period fight with Montreal’s Travis Moen. McQuaid finished the night with just 4:51 of ice time, skating just two shifts in the second period and none in the third. He also did not practice on Sunday, missing the workout along with forwards Nathan Horton, Mark Recchi and David Krejci in what coach Claude Julien referred to as “maintenance days.”
Captain Zdeno Chara was also sick before Saturday’s game in Montreal, but played a team-high 28:08 and practiced on Sunday. Chara was also involved in a post-game scrum with several Montreal players after the Canadiens scored the game-winner in overtime, but received only a 10-minute and is unlikely to face any further punishment from the league.
Johnny Boychuk was shaken up several times, limping off after blocking a shot and being taken down awkwardly in the corner on a hook from Canadiens forward Jeff Halpern. Boychuk still finished the game and practiced Sunday.
Bartkowski, 22, is a first-year pro out of Ohio State whose rights were acquired from Florida last March as part of the deal that brought Dennis Seidenberg to Boston. Bartkowski was the final cut on defense in camp, and actually accompanied the club on its season-opening trip to Prague.
But he’s yet to play in a regular-season game in the NHL and was passed on the organization’s depth chart by Kampfer, who has made a strong case to stay up with three goals in his first 14 games.
The 6-foot-1, 203-pound Bartkowski has taken a little longer to make the adjustment to the pro level, but has put up 4-8-12 totals with 78 shots, 20 penalty minutes and a minus-7 rating in 34 games in Providence. Bartkowski did not play in Providence’s 5-3 loss to Binghamton on Sunday.
If Bartkowski plays on Monday, it will be a particularly memorable NHL debut for the youngster, as the Pittsburgh native will get a chance to play in front of his family and friends with the Bruins completing their brief two-game road trip by facing the Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center on Monday night.
