To take a page out of the book of Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, Tuesday night was a “next man up” situation for the Boston Bruins. With Tuukka Rask’s lower-body and Anton Khudobin’s upper-body injuries keeping the two out of Tuesday’s contest against the Wild, the Bruins were forced to turn to the next two guys in line.

Insert Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre; who had a combined 31:15 of National Hockey League experience entering Tuesday. Subban’s lone NHL contest was one to forget as Subban was pulled in the second period of an eventual 5-1 loss in St. Louis in February of 2015. Subban was pulled after allowing three goals on just six shots in the contest.

McIntyre and Subban were slated to be the consistent one-two punch of the Providence Bruins, but injuries to the parent club’s two net-minders have altered plans just a bit.

In four Providence appearances, Subban was 0-3-1 with a 4.50 goals-against average and a .846 save percentage. McIntyre, on the other hand, has been much better going 1-0-0 with a league-leading 0.44 goals-against average and a .977 save percentage in three appearances. Two of those three appearances came in relief of Subban.

Subban got the nod Tuesday night in what was the first of back-to-back games for the Black and Gold. Their two-game set concludes Wednesday night in New York against the Rangers.

Tuesday’s contest was an opportunity for Subban to show his previous NHL outing and his start in Providence this season is not a true representation of his game. Unfortunately for the former second-round pick, Subban’s second career start didn’t do anything to better his case.

“Yeah, it sucks. Obviously, I’m just trying to finish the game, let alone win one,” Subban said after the loss. “Obviously it sucks, but what can you do now, right?”

Subban was pulled in the second period of Tuesday’s 5-0 loss. Including his stint in Providence, Subban has been pulled in three of his five starts this season.

Whether it’s at the NHL or AHL level, it’s safe to say Subban’s game is nowhere close to where he wants it to be.

“I don’t have a win yet, so obviously I don’t think it’s where it should be, but I don’t think it’s terrible. I just think the first goal was a bad bounce, the second goal even, the guy throws it blindly out in front, guys were right there. Yeah, so I’ve got to keep working through it, and that’s all you can really do, I’ll just keep working through it, and take the negatives and try and correct them, and take the positives, and keep building on them,” added Subban.

McIntyre, who was most likely the scheduled starter Wednesday in New York made his NHL debut Tuesday, reliving Subban of his duties. McIntyre, who stopped 15 of the 17 shots he saw as out of the gate, was visibly nervous between NHL pipes for the first time.

“Yeah, I think at first I just, I was just anxious maybe more so than anything. You know, been dreaming about this step on the ice, and the first NHL game, so there’s been a lot of things that have been built up to this,” said McIntyre. “So, I think more so I was just excited, maybe anxious to get out there and then as the play continued it was settled in a little bit and I was picking up things as I went.”

The blame is certainly all not pointed towards the goaltending; the Bruins defense didn’t do anything to help the young duo. The Wild had too much space and were parking themselves on Subban’s and McIntyre’s doorsteps all evening. All in all, it was a bad night for the Bruins in their worst loss of the season.

Head coach Claude Julien didn’t want to throw his goaltending under the bus, well, completely.

“It could be a combination of both,” Julien said when asked what the bigger issue was Tuesday night.

“There are some goals – I’m not going to lie – there are some goals that we thought our goaltenders should have had. But, I’m not here to talk about a goaltender who’s in one of his first few games because he let in a couple of bad goals. We were terrible in front of him and we weren’t any better, and that’s the big picture. That’s more important.”

With Khudobin out of action for three weeks and if Rask is truly more than “day-to-day,” the Bruins should look to free agency for some immediate help. Kari Ramo, Dan Ellis and Ray Emery are all available veteran free agents who the Bruins could bring in to try and hold down the fort.

The Bruins are not the only ones who may be forced to go this route. The L.A. Kings are in a similar position as the Bruins with injuries to Jonathan Quick and Jeff Zatkoff. On Tuesday, the Kings signed Anders Lindback to a professional tryout. Lindback will be reporting to the Kings’ minor league affiliate in Ontario.