At a time when David Pastrnak is getting knocked around a little bit with teams targeting him physically, the Bruins will get a little bigger, stronger and nastier in their own lineup with Brett Ritchie returning to good health.
Ritchie will draw back in on Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche, but Bruce Cassidy said the Bruins still aren’t sure about who might be coming out of the lineup for the Black and Gold as they battle through some illness issues.
“Ritchie is going to go in. Right now we’re not sure because we’ve got a game time decision to make. One of the guys is not feeling well. I don’t want to get ahead of myself right now, but that’s the decision,” said Cassidy. “The reason Donnie [Sweeney] brought him in is that we were looking to get some size, get a guy that can get inside and help us score some goals that way. Be a presence. Unfortunately for Brett it’s been a stop-and-start sort of season for him. We don’t have a great evaluation on him right now. At times he’s looked the part and other times we don’t know because he’s been getting up to speed. That’s what he’ll be doing [against Colorado].”
Perhaps Ritchie can bring a willingness to police any liberties taken against Pastrnak as well if that continues to be trend going against the NHL's leading scorer.
Ritchie has missed the previous seven games with a nagging infection issue and has missed 14 of Boston’s 29 games already this season while still looking to establish himself among the B’s forward group. He’s got two goals and four points in 15 games for the Black and Gold this season, but certainly has to be looking for a healthy stretch where he can bring his 6-foot-3, 220-pound size, his toughness and his inside offensive presence to a top-9 role for the Bruins.
Cassidy also mentioned that Jaroslav Halak will be getting the start for the Bruins against the Avalanche as they prepare for a four game road trip through a number of Eastern Conference opponents next week. Here are the projected Bruins line combos and D-pairings without a confirmation on who might be coming out of Boston’s lineup:
Marchand-Krejci-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Coyle-Heinen
Bjork-Kuraly-Ritchie
Nordstrom-Lindholm-Wagner
Boston Bruins
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Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Moore-Grzelcyk
Halak
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