Boston Bruins Pastrnak, Lindholm, Ullmark Out For Road Trip

The Boston Bruins will continue to be without a big part of their lineup for the two-game road trip this week as David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm and Linus Ullmark won’t be making the trip through St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

Pastrnak and Lindholm are skating on their own and have not been ruled out for this weekend’s back-to-back games against the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. The same goes with the Swedish goaltender after he was forced out of Thursday night’s loss to the Senators after taking an Erik Brannstrom shot to the head.

But if the Boston Bruins truly wanted both players back “as quickly as possible”, they’re going to have to wait a big longer.

“They won’t travel,” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “That’s the plan is that they should be ready that week before and maybe even as early as this weekend. They’re ruled out for Tuesday/Thursday but haven’t been ruled out for Friday/Saturday. They’ve both played in the playoffs.

“Pasta has had a lot of playoff games over the years, and for Lindholm it’s been a few years, but he’s certainly played [in the playoffs]. For them it’s getting their game back in order and their timing etc. But for Linus, he’s never played in the playoffs so for him there’s going to be a lot of newness. I think he’s going to want to be 100 percent in his own mind, so we need to make sure he’s in a good place with how much he plays before [the playoffs]. To be quite honest with you, there’s a lot of guys where there is going to be some newness for the playoffs.”

#NHLBruins updates per Coach Cassidy:

▪️ David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm, and Linus Ullmark won’t travel. None have been ruled out for potential returns this weekend
▪️ Jesper Froden suffered a lower-body injury on Saturday and will remain in Boston pic.twitter.com/0OrMMLBykE

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 18, 2022

Pastrnak will have missed nine games by this weekend with an injury that’s believed to be related to an awkward tumble he took during a face-off in Columbus. Lindholm will have been out eight games after a lower body injury forced him out of a road loss to the Red Wings a couple of weeks ago.

Furthermore, Jesper Froden is also not making the two-game road trip after suffering a lower body injury in the weekend win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. With the Boston Bruins missing a number of bodies, Curtis Lazar will get a chance to play right wing on the second line with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues.

Troy Grosenick will continue to serve as the backup for 22-year-old rookie Jeremy Swayman, who is expected to get the start against the Blues. Here’s the projected Boston Bruins lineup against the Blues based on Monday morning’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena:

Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk

Hall-Haula-Lazar

Frederic-Coyle-Smith

Foligno-Nosek-McLaughlin

Grzelcyk-McAvoy

Reilly-Carlo

Forbort-Clifton

Swayman