Viktor Arvidsson to return to Bruins’ lineup in Detroit
The Bruins will attempt to take four out of four points in the second half of their home-and-home against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.
On Saturday, the B’s gave the Wings a point when the visitors tied it late with the goalie pulled, but the B’s and Jeremy Swayman (24 saves plus all three shots in the shootout) prevailed on the skills competition at the Garden.
As expected, they will get one of their injured players back when Viktor Arvidsson suits up and plays on a line with Casey Mittelstadt and center Pavel Zacha. He’s been out since pulling up lame in the lat stages of the Bruins’ 3-2 win over the Canadiens in Montreal on February 15.
Before injuries had hit first Mittelstadt (November 6) and then Arvidsson, that line had emerged as a kind of shutdown line to play against the opposition’s top lines.
“He’s just one of those players that you want to follow, just the way he leads on the ice,” coach Marco Sturm told reporters in Detroit. “I thought when he got hurt in Montreal, that was probably his best stretch in playing for a while. Hopefully we can get him back to the way he was playing back during that time. But it’s definitely nice to have him back.”
With Arvidsson back, Jeffrey Viel and Riley Tufte were set to be the healthy scratches.
Swayman, who was 8-2 in November, will get the net again.
“He’s too good right now,” said Sturm. “So if we have any time now – we had two days in between – I think that gave him enough rest again to have a few games in him. He’s doing excellent. It’s going to be a tough game again today and he’s the right guy.”
Sturm also said that David Pastrnak, who had appeared to suffer some sort of lower body injury late in the B’s win on Long Island on Thanksgiving eve, will not skate the rest of the week. Whether he can make the road trip next week that takes the B’s to St. Louis, Winnipeg and Minnesota remains to be seen.
Sturm said he wants to see Pastrnak get a few skates in before he gets back into the lineup.
“We’ve got to be careful with him,” said Sturm.
Charlie McAvoy has resumed skating but there is still no timetable for a return from his facial injury…
The Boston Fleet announced they will be playing the Montreal Victoire at TD Garden on April 11 (7 pm). It will be the second half of a hockey double-header. The B’s host the Tampa Bay Lightning at 12:30 pm that afternoon in what could be a very big game for their playoff hopes.
