Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo out vs. Golden Knights

Labeled a game-time decision Sunday morning, it appears that the Boston Bruins will indeed skate without top-pairing defenseman Brandon Carlo (upper-body) for tonight's head-to-head with the Vegas Golden Knights.

That confirmation of sorts comes with the 6-foot-5 defender missing the club's pregame warmup, and with emergency recall Jeremy Lauzon on the ice and skating on a pairing with Steven Kampfer.

Reunited with Zdeno Chara on Boston's top defensive pairing due to the absence of Charlie McAvoy (concussion), the 21-year-old Carlo has been playing some of his best hockey since his rookie season, with a career-high 20:58 of time on ice per night this season, along with 35 hits and 19 blocked shots through 16 games.

With Carlo down, and with McAvoy and Kevan Miller (hand) still on the shelf, Kampfer will skate as the club's lone right-shot defender Sunday night, as Chara, Lauzon, Torey Krug, John Moore, and Matt Grzelcyk are all left-shots.

The Bruins come into play on the heels of a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, roll into town coming off a Saturday night loss in Montreal, and with a 7-9-1 record on the season.

Jaroslav Halak gets the call in the Boston crease, while the Golden Knights will counter with Malcolm Subban.