The Boston Bruins will be without their best defenseman for Sunday afternoon's pivotal Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes at TD Garden.
The Bruins announced shortly before puck drop that Charlie McAvoy has been placed in the COVID-19 protocol, thus making him unavailable.
Bruins owe Game 3 win to Forbort's fantastic defense, penalty killing
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
McAvoy is a top-five defenseman in the NHL and arguably the most valuable player on the Bruins, especially when you consider Boston already is without its second-best d-man, Hampus Lindholm, after he suffered an upper body injury in Game 2. Lindholm missed Game 3 and won't play in Game 4, either.
Here are the likely defense pairings for Sunday without McAvoy and Lindholm:
Matt Grzelcyk--Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort--Connor Clifton
Boston Bruins
Mike Reilly--Josh Brown
Brown will be making his Bruins playoff debut in Game 4. He was acquired by Boston at the trade deadline in March and made six regular season appearances for the B's.
The Hurricanes lead the series 2-1 entering Sunday.