BOSTON – The Bruins have been hard hit by injuries of late, particularly up front.
But it wasn't until after warm-ups just before Saturday's matinee clash with the Capitals that Boston coach Claude Julien learned that he wouldn't even have a full complement of 12 forwards available for the contest.
Benoit Pouliot skated his regular turn on the third line in the line rushes in warm-ups, but after coming off the ice, he informed Julien he wouldn't be able to go with a nagging lower-body injury. Pouliot left Tuesday's game in Toronto early when the injury initially flared up, and has missed some practice time since, but Saturday was the first time he's been forced to miss a game with the injury.
"Just lower-body injury," Julien said of Pouliot's condition after the game. "After warm-up he said he couldn't go. It caught us a little bit off guard, so we dressed seven D's."
With no other forwards available, Julien had to call upon his surplus on the blue line, using defenseman Mike Mottau as a fourth-line forward with Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton, while rookie Lane MacDermid moved up into Pouliot's spot on the third line.
Mottau did have some experience at forward, though that was limited to a handful of occasions in the American Hockey League. Other than that, his last time up front came back in youth hockey.
"I played a few shifts in the minors, but prior to that probably Squirts," Mottau said.
And playing forward in the NHL is a bit tougher than skating past Squirt defensemen.
“It's a little more difficult than it looks," Mottau admitted.
"You're in every meeting, so you understand the concepts of the forecheck and playing D, you understand what the D wants to do to break the forecheck," Mottau added. "If you slow the game down a little bit and think it through, usually you're OK."
Mottau played eight shifts totaling 6:52. He dished out three hits and earned some praise from his coach despite the club falling 4-3 to the Capitals.
"He had played up there before," Julien said. "The good thing about defensemen is when you get back in your defensive zone they have a pretty good idea what to do, and I thought he did a great job. He adjusted well along the wall. He was getting pucks out. He was very, very adequate as a replacement to go out there and do a job when called upon. Kudos to him for doing a job in a position he's not used to playing."
Julien wasn't sure if Pouliot would accompany the team to Pittsburgh for the start of their three-game road trip on Sunday. Daniel Paille is close to returning, and the Bruins recalled forward Max Sauve from Providence on an emergency basis after Saturday's game, but Mottau is prepared to repeat the experiment up front if the Bruins need him.
"Unfortunately we got the loss, but I'll be ready to play forward again if they need me," Mottau said. "I'm just going to add value to this team wherever I can. I'll play forward. I'll play D. And hopefully we'll get some wins here."
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