Bruins Prospect David Pastrnak Injured in AHL Playoffs
The Boston Bruins saw some scoring spark this season once David Pastrnak was recalled. The first round pick ascended to huge fanfare throughout Boston and was one of the only positives in a lowly season.
With Boston out of the playoffs, the organization sent the Czech star to the American Hockey League where the Providence Bruins are in the first round of their post season.
Providence won their game three against the Hartford Wolfpack in triple overtime, but it wasn’t all smiles for the P-Bruins as Pastrnak had to exit the game in the first OT with injury.
Hartford defenseman Dylan McIlrath hit Pastrnak, who is small with just a 170 lbs frame, hard into the boards. He needed help into the locker room and did not come back.
“It’s lower body and we’ve evaluate in the morning,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy on CSNNE.com. “Right now it’s day-to-day, and it’s nothing where we’d rule him out right now. We’ll assess him in the morning, and see how he is.”
It appears to be an injury to the side, most likely a ribs situation, but the team doesn’t seem concerned long term. He wasn’t ruled out for tonight’s home game in Providence last night, but the team recently announced that he would not dress.
Ryan Spooner is also in the Providence lineup after having a positive impact on the Boston lineup during the latter part of the season. He and Pastrnak had provided a scoring punch that led the team in the month of March while they were making a playoff run.
Pastrnak was shut out in his last five games of the season and has played over 70 games of pro hockey this season, which is a lot on an 18 year old who was the youngest player in both the NHL and the AHL this season.
There is a chance he is being held out of tonight’s game just to be safe. After all, Pastrnak matters a lot more to the NHL’s Bruins for next season than for a first round AHL playoff game. The Providence Bruins lead this playoff series 2-1 and have a chance to leap out to a commanding lead if they can win tonight at home.
If Providence advances beyond this, it remains to be seen if Pastrnak will be a part of their race to the Calder Cup. However, the Boston organization needs to think long and hard about risking their prized youngster.