For most of the first half of the 2022-23 season, the Boston Bruins have avoided any long-term injuries to their forwards. That all changed in a span of two weeks. First Jake DeBrusk went down with a fractured foot on Jan. 2, then Tomas Nosek, who was playing through an injury for a bit, before he was knocked out of the lineup with the same injury as DeBrusk.
The Bruins were able to survive the DeBrusk injury without having to pull up players from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL), but when Nosek went down, they needed reinforcements. That came with some of their prospects who have earned the call-up. With their three AHLers in the lineup, the Black and Gold struggled on their five-game road trip, but it was not for the lack of effort from their call-ups.
Koppanen & McLaughlin Play Well in Nosek’s Spot
Joona Koppanen and Marc McLaughlin were the first two called up to fill in for Nosek. Koppanen, selected 135th overall in the fifth round of the 2016 Entry Draft, has played in five games this season, and the 6-foot-5 center did what he has been doing for the P-Bruins this season, winning faceoffs and killing penalties.
In 36 games for Providence this season, he has six goals and 14 assists, but it was his stuff that doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet that got him called up and he fit in fine with his veteran teammates. He picked up his first NHL point with an assist in the Bruins’ 4-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 22. In five games this season in Boston, he’s averaged 10:50 a night in time on ice, but he’s won 57% of his faceoffs, and logged some key penalty-killing shifts. He was sent back to Providence on Jan. 30, but it would not be surprising to see him back in the NHL this season.
Related: Bruins Weekly: 5 Takeaways From Up & Down 5-Game Road Trip
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McLaughlin, who had an outstanding preseason and training camp, was sent down at the beginning of the season to Providence as he fell victim to a numbers game and several veteran forwards ahead of him on the depth chart. He went down to the AHL and had seven goals and 17 points in 39 games before getting called up for the recent five-game road trip. He only appeared in two games, but the undrafted free agent out of Boston College made his presence felt with his hard-grinding shifts on the fourth line.
Last season after signing with the Bruins, he played well in eight games,…
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