Going on the road and winning on a Saturday night in Toronto is already a tough task to begin with. For the Boston Bruins, it will be even more difficult with multiple key pieces of their lineup.
The Bruins will be without both defenseman Charlie McAvoy and forward Casey Mittelstadt when they face the Maple Leafs tonight at Scotiabank Arena. McAvoy is dealing with a family matter, and Mittelstadt is out due to a lower-body injury. Neither traveled with the team to Toronto.
“It’s going to be a challenging night for us, especially with a few guys out,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm told reporters in Toronto. “But I’m very confident in the way we’re playing right now that we can hang in there. It’s definitely going to be a big one, for sure.”
The absences of McAvoy and Mittelstadt come after the Bruins already placed center Elias Lindholm on injured reserve, as he remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury of his own.
To fill the void, the Bruins recalled forward Alex Steeves from AHL Providence.
“I actually really liked him in preseason,” Sturm said of Steeves. “He’s a worker. I think he has the ability to score goals, but that’s not why he’s here. We just want him to play with details and structure. That’s what I kind of liked about him. He gives you everything he has every night. As a coach, that’s good to know. ”
After spending the first four years of his professional career in the Maple Leafs organization, Steeves signed with the Bruins as an unrestricted free agent last offseason. The 25-year-old from Bedford, NH, has eight points in nine games this year in Providence.
“I guess it’s whatever you want to call it,” said Steeves when asked if he viewed the matchup against his former team as a revenge game.
“I’m just really happy to be here. It’s obviously my first call-up of the season, and it’s not about me tonight. It’s about, hopefully, getting two points.”
Mason Lohrei will be back in the Bruins’ lineup for the first time in more than a week. With costly mistakes in his own end still a routine occurrence for the young defenseman, Lohrei has served as a healthy scratch for the last five games.
“You got to remember he’s still very, very young,” Sturm said. “He’s still processing the whole thing as well. For us, and for me, as a coach, we got to help him and we got to guide him. Again, it was just a matter of time for him to come back into the lineup, and today is the day. We want to help him. We need him.”
Coincidentally, the Bruins arrive in Toronto riding a five-game winning streak. They’ll put in on the line against the Maple Leafs, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. EST.
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