Bruins make AHL recall for road trip

The Bruins will have some blue line insurance with them for a four-game road trip that kicks off some 3,000 miles from home Wednesday, with defenseman Michael Callahan recalled from AHL Providence.

Boston's move to bring up Callahan comes on the heels of Johnny Beecher getting claimed off waivers by the Flames, and with Charlie McAvoy not traveling with the club for the trip. The former opened up a roster spot and cap space for Boston, while the latter left the Bruins with just six defensemen on their roster for the trip prior to the Callahan recall.

A 6-foot-2, left-shot defender, Callahan returns to the Big B's having already made three appearances for the club this season. The Franklin, Mass. native posted a minus-2 rating, along with three hits and six blocked shots, while averaging over 16 minutes of time on ice over that three-game run.

But since being sent down to Providence following that three-game run in the NHL, Callahan has been at his best for the P-Bruins, with two assists and a plus-5 rating in eight games played.

Callahan is not going to revolutionize what the Bruins have on their backend, of course. But he does give the Bruins another bullet in the chamber if things go awry for any reason, be it injury or performance-related.

There's an increased possibility for that, too, if only because the Bruins are currently playing the lefty-shooting Jonathan Aspirot on the right side, while Henri Jokiharju returned to the lineup and had a team-high five giveaways on Monday after being scratched last Saturday.

The trip will not get off to the easiest of starts on that front, either, with the B's going against the second-highest scoring offense in the NHL in Anaheim.