"We miss our guys that aren't here. Let's be upfront about that." The post The injury bug is starting to severely sting the Boston Bruins appeared first on Boston.com.

​Boston was also skating shorthanded. Regular veterans like Charlie McAvoy, Viktor Arvidsson and Elias Lindholm were all sidelined with injury, making room for Providence call-ups Riley Tufte and Matěj Blümel to make their season debut. It takes time, however, for things to seamlessly come together.​

The 24-year-old made the Bruins out of training camp, but has been used scarcely. He has one goal in six games. The former first-round pick (30th overall) in the 2019 draft, has been largely used as a defensive forward at wing and center over his career. In 136 NHL games has 11 goals and 11 assists.

The Boston Bruins (12-9-0) entered tonight with half of their opening night top six forwards, along with superstar defenseman Charlie McAvoy, on the shelf. It's about as hard as the injury bug can bite,

Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy was hit in the mouth by a slap shot and left the Bruins’ game against the Montreal Canadiens midway through the second period Saturday night and didn’t return to the game.

Matěj Blümel and Riley Tufte were both on the ice at Warrior Arena for morning skate before the 7 p.m. game at TD Garden. Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt (retroactive to Nov. 6) were both placed on injured reserve. Jordan Harris has been moved from IR to long-term IR.

RECAP: Fresh off a gutsy road win, the Bruins returned to Boston for a Monday night head-to-head with the Hurricanes at TD Garden.