Elias Lindholm was going to get an MRI on his left knee that was buckled by Buffalo’s Jordan Greenway on Thursday, knocking him out of the Bruins’ 4-3. But regardless of the outcome of that test, coach Marco Sturm is expecting his No. 1 centerman to be out at least “a few weeks.”
So now Sturm looks to a young man who was a healthy scratch just a week ago but is riding a high – Marat Khusnutdinov. The 23-year-old Russian forward is fresh off scoring the overtime winner on Thursday and, when the B’s take on the Carolina Hurricanes in a Saturday afternoon matinee, he will be back in between David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie on the top line.
It’s pretty heady stuff, but not only does he seem to be gaining confidence in his game, those around him are gaining that same faith in Khusnutdinov, the 37th overall pick in 2020 taken by the Minnesota Wild.
Sturm doesn’t want him to change a thing.
“I want him to play his game and not Pasta’s game or Geeks’ game,” said Sturm. “I want him to be himself, just like the did the last few games. I think he did an excellent job. It doesn’t matter if he was a wing or in the middle. He told me he played center in Minny, so it’s not a big issue. He likes being there. He was good. He was really good.”
Young players can get a tad star-struck playing with a superstar like Pastrnak but, while Khusnutdinov might not be completely immune to that, Sturm likes the fit.
“Once in a while I have to remind him not to look for (Pastrnak) all the time,” said Sturm. “I think Pasta also needs a guy to do the work and get some pucks back and I think that’s what he’s so good at, in both zones, the offensive zone and defensive zone. The defensive zone, he closes very quickly so that we can get the puck faster and play to our strength, Pasta’s strength, the whole line’s strength. There’s a combination of what I like.”
The short-but-sturdy Khusnutdinov (5-11, 185 pounds) got bumped up briefly to play on the wing with Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm in the Ottawa blowout loss on Monday and then in the midst of the win over the Islanders on Monday. He started with those two players in Thursday’s game against the Sabres but had move to center when Elias Lindholm got hurt. He won four out of five faceoffs he took.
“He’s obviously very skilled, very fast, a high-end skilled player that works very hard…I told him he’s the fastest on our team. I would tell him to just keep skating,” said Pastrnak.
“It’s been a lot of fun so far. He’s been fun to play with. He’s very strong on the puck for his size and he’s unbelievable on the forecheck. So far it’s been fun and hopefully we can build more and more chemistry.”
Another message from Pastrnak to Khusnutdinov – don’t worry about me.
“There’s a reason you got promoted to this line. Your game got you here. Just play your game. I will adjust to you, you don’t have to adjust to me,” said Pastrnak. “But Khusy is an awesome guy, great kid and great in the room. Everybody loves him. He brings such positive energy every single day. We couldn’t be happier for a guy like him.”…
Sturm said he still had to talk with goalie coach Bob Essensa so he had not yet made a decision on who’ll be between the pipes against Carolina. Joonas Korpisalo has been the B’s best players in their wins over the Islanders and Sabres, but he also faced 75 shots in those two games. The question is whether to go with the hot hand or the guy who is rested in Jeremy Swayman. But Sturm is not worried about motivation for either player.
“I know Sway, I know guys in this room, I know they’re hungry, I know they both want to play every night. They push each other,” said Sturm…
After his long day on Thursday with his fiancee giving birth to the couple’s daughter, Hampus Lindholm was excused from Friday’s practice. He’s expected to be back in the lineup on Saturday.
Sturm said he still needed to have discussions with his staff but he didn’t think there’d be any change on the back end, which means a third straight scratch for Mason Lohrei.
“Guys are playing good. It’s tough to break them up,” said Sturm…
The B’s have been dogged by sloppy starts but Sturm believes he has a remedy for it, at least for Saturday.
“I can tell you, on my pre-scout (Saturday) when I talk about Carolina, I think my first two clips will wake them up,” said Sturm. “They better be ready, because it’s probably the hottest team right from the start and these guys finish a lot of teams right from the first 10 minutes.”…
It apppears John Beecher will draw into the fourth line and Mikey Eyssimont will bump up to the third line…
With his goal on Thursday, Pastrnak is now two away from 400. But he’s not thinking about it too much.
“I’ll get it sooner or later. It’ll be nice once it comes, now when you have family. My daughter made a sign with my wife last time when I got 800 points, that was cool. That was the first time a milestone was fun to achieve because you have your own family recognizing it,” said Pastrnak.
When he scored No. 398 on Thursday, Pastrnak was buzzing and he looked determined to get the milestone before the game was out.
Said Pastrnak: “Yeah it felt like ‘I’m getting it tonight. I’m getting a hat trick, for sure.’ The game had other plans.”
Be the first to comment