It appears the Bruins have dodged a bullet after defenseman Brandon Carlo left Monday’s game in Washington early in the third period and did not return.
Keys for Bruins to make a playoff run
Carlo will not play in Tuesday’s regular-season finale at TD Garden against the Ottawa Senators, but coach Jim Montgomery said he will be ready to go for Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series on Saturday (opponent and time to be determined).
“It’s just maintenance. He’ll be ready Saturday,” Montgomery said of Carlo.
Matt Grzelcyk draws back into the lineup on defense after being a healthy scratch Monday.
Forbort continues rehab in Providence
Speaking of injuries on the blue line, one of the more interesting developments over the past week was Derek Forbort’s return to practice in a no-contact jersey.
Forbort is now taking the next step in his rehab, as he was sent to AHL Providence on Tuesday on a long-term injury conditioning loan. Forbort is expected to play for the P-Bruins this weekend.
When the Bruins placed Forbort on long-term injured reserve at the trade deadline, general manager Don Sweeney said that the defenseman’s season was most likely over, as he was dealing with multiple injuries, one of which required surgery.
Clearly, there is now at least some possibility of Forbort playing for the Bruins in the playoffs, although Montgomery isn’t willing to put any sort of timetable or expectations on a possible return.
“We’re elated that he’s at this stage where he’s gonna go down and get some conditioning with Providence,” Montgomery said of Forbort. “It’s just really good. It’s trending the right way. There’s no timeline as to when he’ll be available for us.”
Megna up, Beecher down
In another interesting transaction on Tuesday, the Bruins recalled veteran forward Jayson Megna from Providence and sent down Johnny Beecher.
Megna will make his Boston debut Tuesday night, playing in his first NHL game in over a year. If nothing else, it’s a nice late-season reward for the 34-year-old, who is tied for second on the P-Bruins in scoring this season with 51 points (18 goals, 33 assists) in 67 games.
Montgomery didn’t rule out the possibility of Megna sticking around, though. Megna can bring some speed to the lineup and can play center or wing.
“He’s had a really good year, but in the last two months, he’s really caught fire and been consistent down there,” Montgomery said of Megna. “We’ve looked at a lot of players throughout the year, and this was just an opportunity for us to look at him.”
Beecher, meanwhile, has struggled in a few games recently, but this doesn’t mean he’s now out of the picture heading into Game 1 of the playoffs. The Bruins could very easily call him right back up in the next couple days, and Montgomery made it clear that he still considers Beecher to be part of his playoff roster.
“Absolutely, yup,” Montgomery said when asked if Beecher is still part of the group.
James van Riemsdyk also draws into the forward lineup Tuesday night, while Pat Maroon gets the night off. The Bruins had hoped Maroon might be able to play each of the final three games of the regular season, but Montgomery said they collectively decided not to push it on the second night of a back-to-back and opted for “maintenance” instead.
“We just talked, and we think what’s best is maintenance right now so he can be ready for Saturday,” Montgomery said of Maroon. “He got the two games that we felt he needed.”
No update on Brazeau
Rounding out all the injury and roster news, Montgomery said there was no update on forward Justin Brazeau, who has not played or practiced since suffering an upper-body injury on April 2. Brazeau is still considered “week-to-week.”