Brandon Carlo is day-to-day, but for now his Game 4 status remains up in the air.
Thus, the Boston Bruins might have to rely on some depth players Saturday as they look to take a 3-1 series lead in their best-of-seven, second-round set against the New York Islanders.
Carlo left Game 3 on Thursday after hitting his head on the glass. Should he not be able to play Saturday, the Bruins have Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril and Jarred Tinordi to choose from.
“That’s (a decision) I think we’ll deal with tomorrow,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said Friday over Zoom. “We have Vaakanainen, Zboril and Tinordi here. All have played a little bit of right but obviously are left sticks. So, that’s a decision we’ll make, talk about (Lauzon) might have to go to his off side. I know (Matt Grzelcyk) has played it, but that’s a road we don’t want to go down, so one of those guys will have to find a comfort level if that’s what we have to do.”
Tinordi is probably the most reliable of the three because he’s played more often lately and has more NHL experience altogether. But from a matchups standpoint, Zboril and Vaakanainen are the superior options.
Zboril got hurt in the final game of the regular season and has not played since, but he showed promise as an NHL blueliner during 42 regular-season games this campaign. He’s a good puck-mover and displayed increased confidence as the year went on. He just returned to being a full participant in practice earlier this week, however, so the rust factor is something to keep an eye on.
Vaakanainen is arguably a better two-way defenseman than Zboril, but he’s still young and acclimating to the North American game, so inconsistency has been a problem for the 22-year-old. That might be a risk Cassidy is unwilling to take in a playoff game that could swing the momentum of the series either way.
Kevan Miller is getting increasingly healthy but will be unavailable for Game 4.
Puck drop for Bruins-Islanders Game 4 is set for 7:15 p.m. ET Saturday. NESN will carry a full hour of pregame and postgame coverage, plus intermission reports on NESN.com.
