BRIGHTON, Mass – With Kenny Agostino sent down after a five-game stint with the Bruins, the B’s will get a look at another one of their more experienced Providence forwards with the call-up of Jordan Szwarz.
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Szwarz, 26, leads the P-Bruins with five goals. He's totaled eight points and a plus-7 in six games with Providence after busting out with 22 goals and 54 points last season. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Burlington, Ontario native has appeared in 35 career NHL games with the Arizona Coyotes, totaling four goals and 21 penalty minutes, and, perhaps more important, provides the B’s with a right-shot forward that can play center or right wing in David Backes’ absence.
“We’re running out of right shots,” admitted coach Bruce Cassidy. “He can play both center and right wing, and that’s where we’ll plug him in...where David [Backes] played essentially. He’s played well [in Providence] and he’s had some good chemistry with [Danton] Heinen at the American League level, so we may revisit that a little bit. We brought him in for depth reasons, and this is a good opportunity for him.”
Swarz is looking forward to another NHL opportunity.
“This is a very good opportunity and I want to make the most of it,” said Szwarz, who signed a two-way deal with the Bruins this season after playing on an AHL contract last year. “A guy like me is always kind of waiting for that opportunity, so now that it’s finally come the real work starts now. I have my work cut out now to try to open some eyes and hold onto a job for as long as I can.
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“I’m a competitive guy. I’m going to go out there, play hard and finish my checks and do all the little things that you have to do to stay in the lineup.”
Szwarz will hope to do what Agostino couldn’t do after finishing with just one point and really making no tangible impact despite some power-play time and a chance to play the hero with a top-3 shootout spot in Monday night’s loss to the Blue Jackets. Agostino was sent down less than 24 hours later. Now, Szwarz is the next in the seemingly endless revolving door of injuries and AHL call-ups for the Black and Gold.
Zane McIntyre was also recalled from Providence on an emergency basis on Wednesday morning and could serve as Tuukka Rask’s backup as Anton Khudobin’s lower body injury “isn’t healing as quickly as [the Bruins] would have liked.” Khudobin wasn’t able to skate at practice Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena after getting hurt Sunday prior to the shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.