Pastrnak, Frederic sidelined indefinitely
Absences necessitate new fourth line
Both David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic have been placed on the shelf for at least Tuesday’s game in Detroit against the Red Wings, and it could be longer.
Frederic, who has had a recent history of concussions, left Tuesday’s 3-2 win in Columbus in the second period after he took a hard check from defenseman Jake Christiansen. He got up slowly and made his way directly to the bench. He did not return and, if it is indeed another head injury, it would be hard to pinpoint a timetable.
Pastrnak, who has been dealing with a core issue since he tweaked something in a March 18 win against the Jets, fell awkwardly off a faceoff on Monday and left the game in the third period.
“He had an injury there against Winnipeg on a goalie exchange with (Linus) Ullmark that flared up one day,” said coach Bruce Cassidy on Tuesday morning. “I don’t know if this is the exact same thing or not. I just found out. So it might be that he hasn’t completely heeled. If that ends being the case and that’s the message we get, then he’s going to need whatever amount of time to get it right. I don’t think it’s long-term. We’ll put it at day-to-day, but who knows.”
After Detroit, the B’s play in Tampa, with whom they’re jockeying for playoff position, on Thursday and then Washington, who they’re trying to keep well below them, on Sunday. But it sounds like the B’s will be conservative with Pastrnak.
“We’ve got some big games coming up this week, but next week and the week after, the bigger ones are down the road for us. So, yes, we’d have to look at that big picture, for sure,” said Cassidy.
The cost of Pastrnak being out of the lineup is self-evident. He’s the B’s leading goalscorer and, when he gets hot, he’s capable of carrying the offense.
But Frederic would be a very tough loss as well. His line with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith has produced dominant shifts more often than not and the B’s are 184-2 since the trio was put together. Frederic’s point totals (5-10-15 in 49 games) are not eye-popping but, after a few stops and starts, he’s been finding his identity, which is a hard-to-playagainst winger who can forecheck effectively, protect the puck and make life miserable for teams in their own zone. The B’s need that piece of the puzzle.
With Frederic and Pastrnak out, Cassidy created a new fourth line, with Jack Studnicka centering Anton Blidh and Marc McLaughlin. Curtis Lazar was set to sit.
Teams targeting Marchand?
Brad Marchand did not get a hearing for his hit on Columbus’ Andrew Peeke on Monday.
For any other player, that would not even merit a mention, but this is the eighttimes-suspended Marchand and there is always some who think he should be banished for anything close to an infraction.
Since his last suspension, a six-game whopper for a post-whistle punch and high stick to Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, Marchand has gotten frustrated at times when it has seemed he’s earned a call that never came.
Cassidy was asked if he thought that some opposing players have taken liberties on Marchand, who is now and will forever be on thin ice.
“It seems that way lately. He’s taking some hits that have not been penalized. There was one where he drew a penalty (Monday) night and I was glad to see him get the call, the guy (Peeke) got his hand up in Marchy’s face and knocked him off balance,” said Cassidy. “The scrum (in which he was mistakenly called for roughing), I don’t think he did much to initiate. It certainly didn’t look like he deserved it. If anything, maybe Jake (DeBrusk) is the guy who could have got pulled out of the pile, but at the end of the day, they got one from each team so as a coach you’re happy you’re not on the short end of it. But yeah, I think he’s taken some shots and Marchy’s going to have to play through it if that’s the standard they’ve set. I don’t wan’t to go too far down the road with it because he’s a hot button issue, Brad, and how we’re handling it internally is ‘March, you need to keep your cool whenever possible, play hard, finish your checks like you did (Monday) night, within the boundaries of the game and play hard. If you take a penalty, we’ll kill it. But understand that you’re probably going to take a few hits here that you might have to turn the other cheek or bite your tongue on the calls.’”
Clifton sits again
Cassidy went with third pair of Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly. That made Connor Clifton a healthy scratch for a fourth straight game after his rough outing against the Maple Leafs, but Cassidy said he’s not putting the Jersey boy in moth balls.
“The thing about Cliffy is we know his game. We know when he’s on, he’s physical, hard to play against, he’s got to manage the puck better in certain situations to stay in there full-time. So he’s out a little bit more because we don’t know (Josh) Brown ,so he’s going to get more looks. And we haven’t seen Reilly on the right side a lot, so there’s a little bit of that going on with evaluation. You always want to play your best lineup but you do have to be mindful of the big picture so we are looking ahead a little bit in that situation, which hurts Cliffy’s opportunity to play a little bit. The one thing is we’ve seen Cliffy over the years, we’ve seen him play hard in the playoffs, we’ve seen him play 49 games this year. We know what we’re getting and he will get back in, but right now we have some other people we need to look at in that spot on the third pair right side.”