The Bruins were forced to go with a new-look defense on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs thanks to injuries (Matt Grzelcyk, upper body; Derek Forbort, lower body) and suspension (Charlie McAvoy), forcing some of the remaining stalwarts into new spots.

While Hampus Lindholm bumped into the first penalty kill pairing with Brandon Carlo, taking over for Forbort, veteran Kevin Shattenkirk was expected to run the first power play unit in McAvoy’s absence.

No stranger to the man advantage in his career, Shattenkirk was looking forward to getting the keys to the family car for a spin.

“Obviously, big shoes to fill,” said Shattenkirk on Thursday morning. “Charlie’s been quarterbacking it and playing great. I think for me, it’s a matter of simplifying and making sure I’m not afraid to shoot the puck when my chance is there and just make the right play. It’s not something that you overthink.”

Boston is the seventh stop on the 34-year-old Shattenkirk’s NHL odyssey, and he had one assist and was a plus-1 in his nine games going into Thursday’s tilt.

His last one was a three-year stint in Anaheim, where the Ducks were in a long rebuild. While Shattenkirk’s ability to deliver tape-to-tape passes is still evident, coach Jim Montgomery felt it took him a little while to get up to speed with the Bruins’ program.

“I think there’s been an adjustment to just playing fast,” said Montgomery. “You’ve been part of losing a lot of games and you accept habits that used to be a part of your game and we’re working with him on getting that back. And I think his first five games to his last (four) games, there’s been a significant uptick in how fast he’s playing, so he’s trending the right way. And his hockey sense and ability to make plays has been a God-given ability of his his entire career.”

Shattenkirk said the vibe in the dressing was hard to miss.

“It’s a huge change. Just the culture in the locker room, right? It’s something that’s hard to build and form and they’ve been doing that for the last 20 years with (Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron) and now (Brad Marchand),” said the former Boston University Terrier, who was playing his 900th NHL game on Thursday. “You notice that as a player. Every day, you can’t take a day off. It’s a competition in practice and it bleeds into our game on the ice. We’re a very detailed, structured team. We’ve been playing better and better every game and we’re still working at it. And that’s the fun part. We know that we really haven’t maxed out our potential yet.”

Neck guards talk

Montgomery said that he and GM Don Sweeney spoke with the team on Wednesday about wearing neck guards in light of the tragic death of Adam Johnson, an American hockey player who was sliced in the neck with a skate blade while playing in the British pro league last weekend.

Earlier in the week, Montgomery talked about his own experience of wearing a neck guard as a youth player after a similar tragedy occurred in his native Montreal, but he found them to cumbersome and took it off once he got to college. Though he still believes it should be a player’s personal choice, Montgomery said the technology has gotten better enough that he’s in favor of using the guards.

“They’ve improved so much of how it restricts and how comfortable it is that, yes, I am for it. I’m for (protection) everywhere. I don’t want to lose a player for any reason,” said Montgomery.

Shattenkirk has been in the league since 2010-11 and admitted it’s hard to change old habits, but he said he’s considering it.

“It’s such a tough area where you’ve played so long without it and guys have preferences,” said Shattenkirk. “I do think it’s something that we’re going to see get integrated at our level over time here. We’ve seen them do it with visors, we’ve seen them with guys not wearing helmets in warmups, grandfathering that in. But I think the most important thing is for guys knowing that they have the option and knowing that there’s technology out there that will help prevent it. It’s a scary reality in our sport that that can happen. I’ve seen guys get wrists (cut) and there was a guy I know had his neck cut as well. The support staff that we have around us is ready to react to those situations. But for me, it’s something that I’m going to have to try and see if I can get used to it and make that decision from there.”.

‘Spoon’ fed

With Forbort out Thursday, 26-year-old Parker Wotherspoon was making his Bruin debut against the Leafs. After five years in the New York Islanders system, Wotherspoon made his NHL debut last season, playing 12 games with the big club.

“That did a lot of for me. It showed that I can play here and that I can be a part of this,” said Wotherspoon.

Montgomery liked Wotherspoon’s training camp.

“Really good hands and good vision, much better than what I anticipated. And he has a lot of sand paper to him. What the question mark would be is how quickly he plays and assimilates. Even though Providence plays the same way, those first touch pucks are important,” said Montgomery.