Montreal Canadiens have a chance to capitalize on the David Pastrnak injury

The standings have changed again for the Montreal Canadiens, but the David Pastrnak injury could give them ground to jump ahead of the Boston Bruins again.

Good morning Montreal Canadiens fans! It’s been a while since we’ve reunited for a game, hasn’t it?

The Habs didn’t come out on top against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it was a very exciting game nonetheless. They battled back from a 2-1 deficit and managed to take the lead thanks to Brendan Gallagher on the powerplay. Unfortunately, the powerplay didn’t respond when they needed it to in overtime, and that was the end of things.

It’s been four days since and the roster is a bit different. Michael Chaput and Kenny Agostino are out while Nate Thompson and Dale Weise are in and they’ll have their debut with the Habs (well not exactly for Weise) Thursday in Nashville. That’s not the only moving factor for Montreal, and this points to the standings.

Although the Habs have been off, the Boston Bruins are on a three-game winning streak. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday followed by wins against the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks. Those six extra points put the Bruins back ahead of Montreal at 72 vs. their 69.

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Stings, but Boston’s injury situation may help in the effort to climb up to third again. News circulated Tuesday that the team will be without David Pastrnak for at least two weeks with a thumb injury. The injury took place after a team event on Sunday and the 22-year-old will need surgery to repair the damage.

It’s a blow to the Bruins given Pastrnak’s performance this season but also hurts their plans for the rest of the season. Pastrnak is usually the third number of the top line along with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. As dominant as the trio were, some teams found a way to expose the fact that the remaining three lines weren’t nearly as strong.

Coach Don Sweeny had the idea to partially separate them playing Pastrnak on the second line with David Krejci while sophomore Danton Heinen got the promotion up to the top line. Pastrnak’s injury derails any possible chemistry forming and does take away one of Boston’s weapons. Their win against the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t show any signs of the Bruins missing Pastrnak but who knows whether or not that changes.

The Montreal Canadiens could capitalize on this, especially if Boston goes through a rut while Pastrnak is out. The bitter end of the scenario is the difference in schedule difficulty. Montreal starts with Nashville then have a back-to-back weekend special in Florida taking on the Lightning and Panthers. Boston, on the other hand, have the poor Anaheim Ducks (without John Gibson mind you) and a tanking Los Angeles Kings team to get through by the end of the week.

Maybe something crazy happens out of those two games but it’s not looking good. Montreal’s best bet is to focus on what they can control and Boston likely has the same mindset.

Maybe the Pastrnak injury winds up being a turning point and the Montreal Canadiens go on seven-game win streak while the Bruins lose a couple in overtime. Considering how crazy the end of the season is in the NHL, would that really be so surprising?