David Pastrnak Not Playing Against Flyers Saturday

In an early morning not-so-great surprise for the Boston Bruins and their fans, Bruins superstar winger was not on the roster for the team’s third preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Here is the roster that the Boston Bruins released early Saturday morning:

Forwards: John Beecher, Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk, Nick Foligno, Trent Frederic, Taylor Hall, David Krejci, Jakub Lauko, Fabian Lysell, Marc McLaughlin, Tomas Nosek, Chris Wagner, Pavel Zacha

Defensemen: Jack Ahcan, Mike Callahan, Connor Clifton, Derek Forbort, Kai Wissman, Nick Wolff, Jakub Zboril 

Goaltenders: Kyle Keyser, Keith Kinkaid, Linus Ullmark 

Goalie Linus Ullmark is expected to get his first start of the 2022-23 preseason, and the expected first line for the regular season, Pavel Zacha-Patrice Bergeron-Jake DeBrusk is expected to be the top trio of forwards Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Jim Montgomery was scheduled to address the media at 11:45 AM ET prior to the 1 PM puck drop at TD Garden. If there is any significant update on Pastrnak from the Boston Bruins bench boss, we’ll have it up here for you.

Pastrnak’s absence on the announced roster Saturday morning came as a surprise because yesterday, along with the aforementioned top trio, Montgomery had Pastrnak skating with David Krejci and Taylor Hall. Montgomery even indicated after practice that this would be his top 6 forward group on Saturday.

“[David] Krejci and [Patrice] Bergeron’s lines will be going, so you’ve got more vets,” Montgomery said after two training camp sessions at Warrior arena on Friday. “We’re going to have four veteran ‘D’ playing, so we’re expecting a little more pace to our game. Executing transition to offense from defense a lot better and I’d like to see our power play just put a lot of pressure on the other team and put them on their heels. Have some pace and have some execution in what we’re doing.”

Montgomery also hinted that the five forward PP formation used in Boston Bruins practice this week could be used against the Flyers on Saturday.