Need to Know: Pastrnak '50/50' for Game 4

BostonBruins.com - After missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury, David Pastrnak skated on Sunday afternoon during an optional practice in Toronto. While that is certainly progress for the Bruins' top winger, coach Bruce Cassidy termed him as "50/50 at best" for Monday night's Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

"Pasta skated today briefly, did some work after in the gym, so that's encouraging," said Cassidy. "He's got his skates on out there. How does that bode for [Monday]? Not sure yet, probably a little premature. Let's see how he does in the morning, so I put him at, I'd say, 50/50 at best right now. Of course, that could change over 24 hours."

Pastrnak, who notched a goal and an assist in Game 1, was joined on the ice Sunday by Anders Bjork, Connor Clifton, Trent Frederic, Max Lagace, Jeremy Lauzon, Par Lindholm, Nick Ritchie, Zach Senyshyn, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Daniel Vladar, and Jakub Zboril.

Finding A Groove

Despite missing Pastrnak for the past two games, the Bruins' power play has started to find some rhythm after going 0 for 13 to start the round robin and playoffs. Boston is 3 for its last 8 on the man advantage across Games 2 and 3, with the tallies coming from David Krejci (who has subbed in for Pastrnak on the first unit), Brad Marchand, and Charlie Coyle.

"Two things come to mind. First, the addition of Krech, his patience and his skillset allows him to make plays under pressure," said power-play quarterback Torey Krug. "Carolina has a high-energy, high-pressure kill and he allows things to settle down. He demands respect and time on the ice from the opponent.

"The second thing would just be going back to hard work. I think we're now winning loose puck battles, getting those second, third chances. And that's something that I think was missing from the first three games and the first game against Carolina as well.

"Just getting back to outworking the opponent. Doesn't matter if you're 5-on-5 or 5-on-4, that needs to be a staple for the team and it's working for us."

Into the Spotlight

In the Game 3 victory over the Hurricanes, Jaroslav Halak became the first Boston goaltender other than Tuukka Rask to make a non-round robin playoff start since Tim Thomas on April 25, 2012, in Game 7 of the first round against Washington. Rask had made 78 straight non-round robin postseason starts in goal for the Bruins.

With Rask opting out of the NHL's Return to Play on Saturday morning, the net now belongs to Halak, who looked strong in his series debut, making 29 saves on 30 shots in Boston's 3-1 win. It will now be up to Cassidy to determine Halak's workload moving forward and whether or not backups Daniel Vladar and Max Lagace are ready to see any playing time when the Bruins are faced with back-to-back scenarios.

"[Halak's] our guy, he's proven that right now, the other guys have not," said Cassidy. "Not saying they couldn't handle it and we may have to look at the Game 5 and 6 back-to-back, but I don't want to get that far ahead. Let's get through [Monday] night's game and let's see where Jaro is at. He has played back-to-back for us. A couple of years ago we needed him to do that, so he's a guy that we've seen do it and have success.

"We're going to have to sort of wing it if we go that way because [Vladar and Lagace] haven't played in this Return to Play and they've only seen practice shots. So, all that has to be considered and then ultimately, probably will come down to Jaro's call. Can he handle it if that's the route we need to go?"

Cassidy, when asked if there is a possibility for Rask to return to the team at some point during the postseason, said it will ultimately be up to the goaltender to decide what is best for him and his family down the line.

"Tuukka would best be able to answer that," said Cassidy. "We exchanged texts today, left him a message, so he's doing well, his family is doing well, so that's very encouraging for everyone in the Bruins organization. As we said before, we support Tuukka, we wish him well, we want nothing but the best for him and his family.

"Should circumstances change there where he feels he can come back to the club then I think we'll cross that bridge when we come and see what it involves. Obviously, the NHL is OK with it and that's how we'd handle that. I wasn't involved in the conversation when he spoke to Donnie [Sweeney] so that's probably another question for Donnie as well if they even bridge that."

Opposing View

The Hurricanes are likely to be without stellar young winger Andrei Svechnikov on Monday night after the 20-year-old suffered an ugly looking leg injury while tangling with Zdeno Chara in front of the Bruins net during the third period of Game 3. Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said on Sunday afternoon that he "highly doubts" Svechnikov will return to the lineup.

"I know he was getting MRI'd and they were checking him out," said Brind'Amour. "I would highly doubt it. But I don't have an update."

Brind'Amour, also citing injuries to defensemen Joel Edmundson and Brett Pesce, said he hopes that the Hurricanes are able to rally around the players that are sidelined as they look to tie the series in Game 4.

"Every team has [injuries]," said Brind'Amour. "That's why you have depth and other guys have to step up. Obviously, you're not gonna replace [Svechnikov], for sure, the talent…but there's no other alternative. It's a team game. We know we need everybody to win, if we're gonna need change, they're all going to have to produce, whoever is in the lineup."

After rotating through Petr Mrazek and James Reimer between the pipes through three games, Brind'Amour indicated that he is inclined to continue with that strategy moving forward. Mrazek made 36 saves on 38 shots in Game 3.

"That's a huge possibility," Brind'Amour said when asked if he'd turn back to Reimer for Game 4. "We said all along that we're gonna use them both in this series…we'll make that decision tonight, but there's a good chance that's how we're gonna roll it out."