Bruins Practice Lines, Pairings Saturday With Brandon Carlo Out

The Boston Bruins have been forced into making tweaks once again on the back end.

In their 5-1 win Friday over the Washington Capitals, the Bruins lost Brandon Carlo, who was sent to the hospital after a predatory hit to the head by Tom Wilson. The Caps winger now has an in-person hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

With the New Jersey Devils awaiting the Bruins on Sunday evening, Boston was back on the ice Saturday for practice at Warrior Ice Arena.

And with the loss of Carlo, things got shaken up a little bit in the back end.

Brad Marchand–Greg McKegg–David Pastrnak
Nick RItchie–David Krejci–Jake DeBrusk
Trent Frederic–Charlie Coyle–Craig MSmith
Anders Bjork/Sean Kuraly–Jack Studnicka–Chris Wagner

Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Jakub Zboril–Connor Clifton
Jarred Tinordi–Urho Vaakanainen

A few notes on this.

— It’s unclear why Patrice Bergeron was not practicing Saturday, but it very well might have been a maintenance day. Bruce Cassidy after practice did not mention an injury.

— While the circumstances that brought them back together obviously weren’t ideal, the Grzelcyk-McAvoy pairing has been largely successful.

— Kuraly was a healthy scratch Friday against the Capitals, but was splitting shifts with Bjork on the fourth line left wing Saturday. That he was practicing on the wing while Studnicka continued to center the line goes to show how positive of an impression the youngster is leaving on the coaching staff.

— John Moore and Steven Kampfer skated as an extra defensive pairing. Unsurprisingly, it appears they’re next in line if somebody else is absent for any reason.