Bruins make call for defensive help ahead of tilt vs. Stars
The Bruins’ hopes of getting through a two-game road trip without some extra help — the Bruins, by design, departed Boston with just 18 healthy skaters on their roster — were officially dashed Wednesday afternoon, with defenseman Jordan Oesterle officially recalled from AHL Providence.
The B’s decision to summon Oesterle up from the P-Bruins comes after defenseman Hampus Lindholm left Tuesday’s win over the Blues with a lower-body injury.
A 32-year-old journeyman, Oesterle’s recall comes following a start that’s featured two goals and eight points in nine games for Providence. Oesterle’s eight points are tops among all P-Bruins defensemen, and depart the AHL as the 13th-most among all AHL defensemen through the first month of the season.
Oesterle, a left shot, is the most experienced defensive option below the B’s NHL ranks, with 371 NHL games to his name over 10 seasons of work. Most recently at the NHL level, Oesterle made 22 appearances for the Flames a year ago, with two assists and a minus-6 with Calgary in 2023-24. Oesterle also racked up 22 hits and 33 blocked shots over that 22-game sample.
Oesterle has scored 19 goals and totaled 86 points over the course of his NHL career.
With Lindholm out and Oesterle in, it feels like the most likely move would come with Mason Lohrei skating next to Brandon Carlo on Boston’s second pairing, with Oesterle and Parker Wotherspoon rounding out the B’s third defensive pairing. That would also (and obviously) leave the Bruins with a top-pairing combo featuring Nikita Zadorov to the left of Charlie McAvoy.
The shorthanded Bruins enter Thursday’s head-to-head against the Stars coming off a 3-2 comeback over the Blues, and looking to rebound from what was a 5-2 loss to the Stars in Boston on Oct. 24.
3 Stars: Bruins pull off biggest comeback yet with win over Blues
Third Star: Morgan Geekie
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) gives up a goal to Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
A healthy scratch in three straight games, Morgan Geekie was given one hell of a rebound opportunity, with Tuesday coming with Geekie not only thrown back into the lineup, but back in the lineup and to the left of Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak on the B’s top line. And Geekie did not miss his chance to make that opportunity count, with a goal that ultimately sparked Boston’s third-period comeback against Jordan Binnington.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s flight out to St. Louis, Geekie acknowledged that he felt that a lot of what was bugging him (zero goals and two assists in 11 games this season) was more between the ears than anything physically.
This isn’t too dissimilar to his 2023-24, which saw him start slow before really picking things up in late November. But for better or worse, these Bruins aren’t built to deal with another prolonged Geekie dry spell after he emerged as a tremendous middle-six scoring threat for the club a year ago.
In addition to the goal, Geekie finished Tuesday’s win with two hits, a blocked shot, and a plus-2 rating.
Second Star: Charlie McAvoy
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) controls the puck as St. Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (63) defends during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
The Bruins are a better team when Charlie McAvoy shoots the puck. It’s just a fact. And McAvoy gave us another example of that Tuesday, with the game-tying goal that forced the Blues to respect his shot later in the evening when he dished it off to David Pastrnak for the game-winning goal.
What was doubly important about McAvoy’s night is that it felt like his best hockey came after Hampus Lindholm was knocked out of the game with a lower-body injury. The Bruins had to lean on McAvoy, and lean on him hard (with over 25 minutes), and he delivered for the Black and Gold.
They’re gonna need more of that, too.
First Star: David Pastrnak
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) reacts after scoring the game winning goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
Here’s a ‘fun’ stat for you: Of the Bruins’ first six shots in this contest, all six came from David Pastrnak. But it wasn’t until Pastrnak’s final shot of the evening that Boston’s top offensive weapon finally broke through on Jordan Binnington for what captured the win for the Bruins in the third period of this contest.
You could almost see the relief on Pastrnak’s face once that goal crossed over the line and gave No. 88 his first goal since his strike in Boston’s Oct. 26 win over the Maple Leafs. But Pastrnak put his fingerprints all over this game, beginning with the takeaway-and-assist on Morgan Geekie’s third-period strike. And the Bruins downright dominated the puck whenever Pastrnak was out there.
I’ve said it dozens of times before and I’ll say it again: Pastrnak is perhaps the only Bruins player who has that legit ‘takeover’ ability on a nightly basis. His third period felt like that, and the offensively-challenged Bruins are going to need that every single night until the some of the other percentages around the lineup trend upwards.
