Bruins lose Viktor Arvidsson to injury after getting Charlie McAvoy back

The Boston Bruins have been playing inspired hockey as of late, now winners of four consecutive games following a 6-3 victory over the struggling Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.

The B’s had both David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy in the lineup for the contest after the two key players have each missed time with injury. But just as the reinforcements arrived, another two skaters were lost to the injury bug.

Forward Viktor Arvidsson left the game with a lower-body injury early in the third period and did not return after seeing 7:30 of time on ice. He had recorded an assist before departing. Defenseman Jonathan Aspirot also left the contest due to an upper-body injury.

Head coach Marco Sturm had no postgame update for either player. The hope is that both avoided serious, long-term ailments, although there probably won’t be a more concrete update until sometime this weekend.

Still, it was an inspired performance for a Boston team that has now won seven of 10 games and vaulted into second place in the Atlantic Division at 19-13-0.

Bruins surging in December

Pastrnak has made the most of his return to action; he managed three assists in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues, and again led the charge two nights later.

The superstar forward scored two goals and added two assists at Canada Life Centre as the Bruins doubled up the Jets.

“It’s been a while since I was out but my head was a little bit different,” Pastrnak said afterwards, per NHL.com’s Darrin Bauming. “I just play, try to play the right way. Obviously (I’ve) been out a while so it’s never easy to come back, but when you’re winning it’s much easier to just join the group.

“And that’s what my main focus was because they’ve been playing great hockey when guys were out, so for me it was just a matter of, pretty much, don’t ruin it and just come in and help the way I can. And the last two games was with scoring, but if that doesn’t keep going I have to find different ways to help the team.”

Pastrnak is a difference-maker on this Bruins squad, and he earned high praise from his head coach afterwards.

“He’s a pretty good hockey player but he also needs to be 100 percent, too, and he’s shown it today,” Sturm said. “I doubled him up when we lost Arvidsson to an unspecified injury and I doubled him up on our lines and he got better and better. He’s a special player and only those kinds of players can do it.”

McAvoy also made an impact in his return, recording an assist over 24:16 of ice time while adding a plus-four rating.

It’s been an excellent couple of weeks for the Bruins, who will be hoping to get Arvidsson and Aspirot back in the lineup when they look to make it five consecutive triumphs against the Wild in Minnesota on Sunday night.

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