The Bruins improved to 9-1-0 Tuesday night with an incredible 6-5 overtime comeback win in Pittsburgh. That was the good news.
The bad news was that they suffered two more injuries. Defenseman Derek Forbort left in the first period after taking a shot off his right hand/wrist area and did not return. Goalie Jeremy Swayman had to be helped off in the third period after his left leg bent awkwardly when Patrice Bergeron accidentally crashed into it. Swayman also did not return.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery did not have any further updates on either Forbort or Swayman after the game. With the Bruins off on Wednesday, we likely won't get any until Thursday. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reported that Swayman was walking around with ice on his left knee after the game, but was not on crutches.
Either player missing time would be a tough loss for the Bruins. Forbort is off to a very good start in his second season in Boston and entered Tuesday night third on the team in average time on ice and first on the team in shorthanded time on ice (for the No. 1 penalty kill in the NHL, by the way). Swayman had bounced back from a slow start to the season with a strong outing in his most recent game before Tuesday, a 5-1 win over the Red Wings.
So, what would the Bruins' options be if one or both of them do have to miss time?
Let's start with Swayman. Obviously, the Bruins would need to call up a goalie from AHL Providence. Keith Kinkaid and Kyle Keyser are both off to good starts there. The veteran Kinkaid is 2-1-1 with a .922 save percentage and 2.70 goals-against average, while the 23-year-old Keyser has been even better at 3-0-1 with a .941 save percentage and 1.71 GAA.
Kinkaid has 167 games of NHL experience, while Keyser has zero. For that reason, our bet would be on Kinkaid getting recalled. Keyser would probably be better served by continuing to play regularly in Providence rather than sitting on the bench in Boston.
If Swayman's injury is shorter-term, Kinkaid (or Keyser) may not play much, if at all. The Bruins could elect to just ride Ullmark until Swayman returns, especially without any back-to-backs or crazy travel on the horizon. But if Swayman is going to miss a couple weeks or longer, then Kinkaid (or Keyser) is going to have to play at some point. For his NHL career, the 33-year-old Kinkaid is 69-58-21 with a .905 save percentage and 2.92 GAA.
As for Forbort, the Bruins have the bodies. Jakub Zboril and Mike Reilly have been the extra defensemen recently, and both are left shots like Forbort. Neither are the same kind of player as Forbort, though. The Bruins' defense and penalty kill would certainly look different without one of the team's sturdiest defensive players in the lineup.
The Bruins' top pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo, if they stay together, would likely see more defensive-zone shifts, as they would become the clear top defensive pair without the benefit of a Forbort-Clifton pairing behind them. On the penalty kill, Lindholm and Carlo -- currently the second PK unit behind Forbort and Clifton -- would likely see an uptick in ice time, and at least one of Anton Stralman, Matt Grzelcyk or maybe Zboril would have to take on a regular PK role as well.
Forbort and Swayman would both leave sizeable holes to fill if they miss time. But this year's Bruins have certainly shown that they can walk the walk when it comes to a "next man up" mentality, as they have already dealt with Grzelcyk, Carlo, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk missing varying amounts of time.
