For the second night in a row, the Bruins at least got a point in a 4-3 loss on the road, this time falling to the Arizona Coyotes in overtime.
But for the second night in a row, the final result was not the biggest story. After defenseman Brandon Carlo suffered an upper-body injury on Monday, the injuries continued to pile up on Tuesday as goalie Linus Ullmark and center Matt Poitras both exited the game.
There was an encouraging update on Carlo pregame Tuesday, as coach Jim Montgomery said he is considered "day-to-day" and remains with the team on their western road trip. It remains to be seen if the updates on Ullmark and Poitras will be as encouraging. Montgomery did not have any news postgame.
Let's start with Ullmark. His injury came in overtime when he went down awkwardly while going into the splits to make a save on Logan Cooley. Ullmark needed help getting off the ice, and obviously did not return. Jeremy Swayman came in cold to replace him and gave up the winning goal on a great shot by Nick Schmaltz a minute and a half later.
Montgomery called it a lower-body injury after the game, but beyond that it's hard to guess exactly what it might be.
If Ullmark misses any time, the Bruins would have to call up either Brandon Bussi or Michael DiPietro from AHL Providence ahead of Thursday's game in Vegas.
Bussi has served as a backup for a couple NHL games, including one earlier this season when Swayman was sick, but has yet to make his NHL debut. He is 10-6-3 with a .901 save percentage and 2.94 goals-against average in Providence this season. DiPietro has slightly better numbers this year (9-5-0, .912, 2.63) and has three games of NHL experience from his time in Vancouver.
An extended Ullmark absence would also likely mean an increased workload for Swayman, as it seems unlikely the Bruins would continue a strict 50-50 rotation between him and either Bussi or DiPietro.
As for Poitras, his injury came early in the third period when he tried to throw a hit on Sean Durzi, but wound up taking the worst of the collision. It's unclear if Poitras was hurt on the hit itself or the ensuing fall to the ice, but either way he came up grabbing his right shoulder. After briefly sitting on the bench, Poitras made his way to the locker room and did not return.
If Poitras misses any time, the Bruins' most likely move would be shifting Trent Frederic to center on the third line between James van Riemsdyk and Danton Heinen, which is a line that had some success recently. The Bruins already had two extra forwards on the roster, so one of Jakub Lauko or Oskar Steen would plug back into the lineup on the fourth line.
Another option, especially if it's an extended absence, would be calling up Georgii Merkulov again and giving the P-Bruins star a longer look.
The Bruins are completely off Wednesday, so unless there's a transaction announced or a team statement or something, there likely won't be any updates on Ullmark and Poitras until Thursday's morning skate in Vegas.
