Bruins

“He was really dominant the first week he was back.”

The Bruins are shuffling around their D corps ahead of Thursday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Shortly after Thursday’s morning skate got underway at Warrior Ice Arena, the Bruins announced that Derek Forbort has been placed on long-term injured reserve, with rookie Mason Lohrei recalled from Providence on an emergency basis.

This stands as the second time this season that Forbort will miss several games due to a lower-body injury that has plagued him all season. He missed four games earlier this fall, with Boston’s most-recent stretch of nine games in 16 days forcing the blueliner to go on the shelf.

“It’s a lower-body injury. … We’ve given him, I think at one point we gave him five days off,” Montgomery said of Forbort’s injury on Thursday. “And it was doing well. But the nine games in 16 days, just the repetitive demands on the body, it’s come back. We’re gonna give [him] a little extended time to try and nip this for the rest of the year.”

With Forbort now on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), he must miss at least 10 games and 24 days, putting his earliest possible return on New Year’s Eve against the Red Wings.

Lohrei was sent down to Providence on Nov. 25 after Matt Grzelcyk was activated off of LTIR. The 22-year-old defenseman only played three games down in the AHL during his latest stint before getting the call back up to the NHL ranks.

Lohrei played in 10 games with Boston following Grzelcyk’s injury, scoring a goal, adding three assists, and averaging 17:35 of ice time per contest.

While the puck-moving Lohrei was a logical replacement for Grzelcyk given their similar skillsets in the offensive zone, the rookie’s usage will need to be tweaked if he’s asked to step into Forbort’s minutes.

With Forbort routinely handed plenty of D-zone starts and heavy reps on the penalty kill, Montgomery acknowledged that Boston will need to shift some of the remaining personnel around in order to account for Forbort’s absence on special teams.

“[Hampus Lindholm] will go in the first pairing [with Brandon Carlo], and [Grzelcyk] has done a really good job here this year being ready in practice,” Montgomery said of D-men replacements on the PK. “He’s done a great job of running the right routes.

“And we think he’s going to do a really good job for us, so he’s going to be the second left shot pairing up there. And then Lohrei has killed some already this year. So now we got three left shots to play tonight in that situation.”

Lohrei’s playmaking poise is evident, with his 6-foot-5 frame painting the picture of a unique blue-chip prospect who can anchor Boston’s top-four grouping for years to come.

But Lohrei will need to tighten up his D-zone play in his second go-around with Boston.

During Lohrei’s 161:00 of 5v5 reps with Boston, opponents still outscored Boston, 11-7. Over his 10-game stint with Boston, the Bruins only gave up 16 total 5v5 goals.

“He did really well, he was really dominant the first week he was back,” Montgomery said of Lohrei’s progression with Providence. “Was not as dominant this weekend, but still helped the team win some hockey games.

“We know what he’s done for us here and how good he’s been, and we’re excited to see where he’s at in his development stage now, which is going to help us like he did last time we played Buffalo.”