The Boston Bruins got some good news on the injury front on Sunday as defenseman Brandon Carlo has been cleared to play for Sunday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks.
The 26-year-old Carlo has hit in the left foot by a Mika Zibanejad blast in Thursday night’s win over the New York Rangers and had to exit the game, but X-rays came back negative after Carlo feared the injury was similar to a broken bone a couple of years ago. Instead, Carlo was able to practice on Saturday and will be right back in the lineup against the Sharks at TD Garden as it’s the forward group weathering depth challenges with the loss of fourth line center Tomas Nosek.
“When I was coming off the ice, the pain was very similar to what it was like when I did break my ankle a couple of years ago,” said Carlo, who has missed just four games in what’s been a largely healthy season for the Black and Gold. “And thankfully, the X-rays came back and showed that everything was good.
“It must have hit some sort of nerve or something like that because it was similar to that [broken bone] feeling. But waking up the next morning and keeping the ice on it has helped with the inflammation. It’s still pretty painful in the boot, but I feel fully capable of skating and being able to do my job. So hopefully tonight [against San Jose] will be a fun one.”
The scare with Carlo does bring to light the recent interest in trading for hardnosed veteran D-man Luke Schenn, who would be a fantastic right-shot option should injuries hit players like Carlo and Charlie McAvoy on the defense’s right side during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The expectation is that 6-foot-5 Finnish center Joona Koppanen will replace Nosek and be centering Nick Foligno and AJ Greer on the Boston Bruins fourth line as they look to make it five wins in a row against a Sharks team that is 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Here’s the projected Boston Bruins lineup vs. the Sharks based on Sunday’s morning skate:
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak
Hall-Coyle-Frederic
Foligno-Koppanen-Greer
Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Lindholm-Carlo
Forbort-Clifton
Ullmark
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