It seems almost everything is on the table to get David Pastrnak going.

The Bruins’ lone All-Star has struggled in the postseason, tallying just three goals with the last one just deflecting off his skate blade.

He’s been juggled between the top and second lines, and now there’s a chance he may play with another group he hasn’t skated with too often.

“He played some with (Marcus) Johansson and (Charlie) Coyle the other night and I don’t think he’s practiced with them ever,” Bruins Coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So if we’re going to go down that road then it wouldn’t hurt to get some reps. We will make that decision tomorrow. We like to move our players on the wing around as you know, so we could end up with (Patrice) Bergeron, (David) Krejci, or Coyle.”

Pastrnak’s struggles also have extended to the power play, which has been an overall issue for the Bruins. Part of that is just taking opportunities to shoot when they arise.

“Obviously I have to shoot the puck, hang on to the puck and go to the net a little bit more,” Pastrnak said. “There are a million things you can always do better, so I’m just going to try and do that. Maybe I’m passing on the looks, so I need to just stick with it and go to the net.”

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Pastrnak said he was “awake now” after scoring twice in Game 6 against Toronto, but has been mostly quiet since. His emergence would make a world of difference in what’s turning out to be a grinding series with the Blue Jackets.

Jumping on with two players who have a bit of the hot hand on offense isn’t a bad approach, either.

“They’re great players finding some chemistry between those two,” he said. “I’m just trying to help them as much as I can.”

HURRICANES: Goalie Petr Mrazek is day to day with a lower body injury while defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is out with an upper body injury.

Coach Rod Brind’Amour also said forward Saku Maenalanen is expected to miss the rest of the second-round series with the New York Islanders with an upper body injury.

Brind’Amour spoke a day after the Hurricanes’ list of injuries grew considerably during a 2-1 victory in New York that gave Carolina a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Wednesday night.

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Mrazek, who has 210 saves on 230 shots faced while going 5-3 in the playoffs, left Sunday’s game 6 minutes into the second period. He was replaced by Curtis McElhinney, who stopped all 17 shots he saw.

Brind’Amour described Mrazek’s status as “actually good news” because it means the injury doesn’t appear to be long term. Still, the team recalled goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from its AHL affiliate in Charlotte on an emergency basis.

Van Riemsdyk was hurt about 30 seconds into Sunday’s game after taking a hard hit from Cal Clutterbuck. He skated off the ice holding his left shoulder and sat on the bench for several minutes before heading to the dressing room. Maenalanen was injured in the third period.

MONDAY’S GAME

BLUES 4, STARS 3: Pat Maroon flicked a puck over Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop with 1:38 left in a wild third period, and visiting St. Louis won to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Maroon’s second goal of the playoffs came after he gathered the puck to the left of Bishop and scored. That ended a span of just under 5½ minutes when both teams scored two goals.

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