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No help coming for Bruins’ battered blue line

Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL, QC - DECEMBER 12: Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins plays the puck during the NHL game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on December 12, 2016 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

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No reinforcements are coming for the Bruins’ battered defense.

Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy said this morning that he doesn’t expect injured d-men Torey Krug, Adam McQuaid, or Brandon Carlo to return for Game 5.

If the Bruins lose tomorrow in Ottawa, their season is over.

In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine a team racking up more injuries on the back end in such a short time. Krug was injured in the Bruins’ second-to-last game of the regular season, and Carlo was forced to leave their final game. Then the playoffs started. Colin Miller went down in Game 1, and McQuaid was lost early in Game 2.

Though Miller returned last night, he’s had to battle all season to just stay in the lineup. Ditto for Joe Morrow, who’s been unexpectedly forced into action. The B’s even had to insert Tommy Cross into Game 3, and he hadn’t played an NHL game in over a year.

Granted, young Charlie McAvoy has shown well. But he’s also a minus-2 in four games, still with a lot to learn.

Credit to the Senators, of course. Especially Erik Karlsson, Bobby Ryan, and head coach Guy Boucher’s suffocating system.

But throw David Krejci’s injury into the equation and the Bruins will likely look back on this series and wonder what could’ve been if they were healthy.

It’s not over yet, though.

“We look at it like we have to win one game in a row three times,” Cassidy told reporters. “We’ll take it one game at a time. That’s how we’ve done it here.”

Bruins pairings in Game 4

Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Joe Morrow -- Kevan Miller
John-Michael Liles -- Colin Miller