David Pastrnak day-to-day with injury as Bruins lineup takes another hit

Pastrnak will miss his first game since the end of the 2021-22 season.

David Pastrnak will miss his first game since the 2021-22 season on Friday. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

November 28, 2025

1 minute to read

The good news for the Bruins?

After missing nine games with a lower-body injury, forward Casey Mittelstadt will draw back into the lineup for Boston’s Black Friday matinee game against the Rangers.

The bad news?

Mittelstadt’s return — sans practice — was prompted by Boston being stung by the injury bug once again.

Speaking ahead of puck drop on Friday, Marco Sturm said that both David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha will not play and are day-to-day with injuries.

In subsequent roster moves, Boston promoted Georgii Merkulov from Providence and he will play on Friday — while Riley Tufte will also draw into the lineup. Matej Blumel has been placed on long-term injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury during Wednesday’s road win over the Islanders.

“I gave them the day off yesterday,” Sturm said of his banged-up roster. “[Pastrnak and Zacha’s injuries] came up today, and so we have to wait till tomorrow [for more updates].”

With Charlie McAvoy still on injured reserve after taking a slap shot to the mouth on Nov. 15, the Bruins will play on Friday without three of their top-four leading scorers this season. Viktor Arvidsson, who is sixth on the team in scoring, is also still on IR with a lower-body injury.

Pastrank stands as Boston’s leading scorer this year with 11 goals and 29 points over 25 games.

The star winger has been one of the more durable players in the league over the years. This stands as the first game that Pastrnak has missed since the final game of the 2021-22 season — ending a streak of 298 games played, postseason included.

Despite these latest setbacks, Sturm expressed confidence that Boston will be able to stay afloat on Friday against the Rangers.

“It’s very easy, because we’ve done it before,” Sturm said. “I just told the group, I’m not worried at all, because I’ve done it. We’ve done it as a group before with a lot of guys out, and as long as we play with our structure, especially without the puck, we will be good.”