BOSTON -- After the Boston Bruins dropped a 5-3 decision to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at TD Garden, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli, coach Claude Julien and the majority of the hockey operations staff met in the coach's office to discuss the team's roster.

With one week until the season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 8 at TD Garden, the Bruins still have some tough roster decisions to make. On Tuesday, the locker room was closed to the media, and it took Julien over 30 minutes to emerge from his meetings with management.

Loui Eriksson is still trying to settle in on the Bruins' top line. Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports

More cuts are coming, but Julien said he'll leave those decisions to upper management. The Bruins are off Wednesday, so the coaching staff and management will reconvene and dissect the roster a bit more.

"No, nothing tonight," Julien said of possible cuts. "We just met as a group there and discussed all the players as we often do evaluating. As we get closer, meetings get a little more sophisticated than the first ones."

There are four open forward positions available, and there still remains a battle for a couple of defensive spots, with Chiarelli possibly ready to trade one of the defensemen.

There are only two preseason games remaining -- Friday night against the Islanders in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Saturday at TD Garden versus the Detroit Red Wings.

• Top spot: Chiarelli and Julien remain hopeful that Loui Eriksson will fit on the top line, along with longtime linemates David Krejci and Milan Lucic. It's going to be tough to get an accurate assessment, however, since Lucic is still rehabbing from offseason wrist surgery and Eriksson hasn't had too much time in camp to adjust to his new spot. Tuesday's game was the first time that trio has played together in a preseason game, and it wasn't the best effort.

"I don't think that line as a whole had a great game," Julien said. "They were just OK. I don't think they were a dominant line tonight, so it's probably hard to assess as far as if that line will work or not. We definitely need to see them play a little bit better and hopefully as camp progresses that's going to happen."

It's likely that line will remain together for the last two preseason games.

"Hopefully we can get something together quickly," Eriksson said. "It's kind of a tough game. Too many penalties, especially in the second there, so it was tough to get a good feeling out of it. Definitely we need some more games here maybe and get the connection going. Just work hard. We have a little bit of time to improve and get better and definitely we can work on some more stuff the next game."

• Defense on display: Since Chiarelli has made it no secret he will likely trade a defenseman sooner than later, the internal competition has been evident in the preseason games. Other than Zdeno Chara, Dougie Hamilton, Dennis Seidenberg and Torey Krug, the likes of Johnny Boychuk, Matt Bartkowski, Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller are all trying to earn a spot. There were plenty of organizations represented at Tuesday's game, with one scout saying most everyone is paying close attention to Boychuk and McQuaid.

• Forward competition in focus: Of the four open forward positions, Bobby Robins is making a strong push to earn one of the roster spots. He would be perfect on the team's fourth line. He's relentless, loves to hit, skates hard and will drop the gloves at will. A career minor leaguer, Robins needs to prove he can make good decisions with the puck, get it deep when possible and get it out quick.

"I see a better player and he's certainly making a case for himself," Julien said. "When you see what he brings, how hard he works and the energy that he gives our team and everything else that we know about him, I'm certainly not ready to write him off, yet."

With former pugilist Shawn Thornton no longer a member of the Bruins and now playing for the Florida Panthers, his absence opens a spot for Robins if he can earn it.

"Dropping the gloves is something that he does and he's known for," Julien said. "He defends his teammates all the time and he's a good team player. Then you add his work ethic and his commitment to playing hard every shift he's out there; those are certainly things that gives him an opportunity to look at closely and he's going to make our decisions tough. We have to be honest here: There are some spots open and some guys are taking advantage of it and really making a case for themselves, and some others haven't. It's one of those kinds of things, at the end of the day you've got to sit down and decide who you're going to keep based on merit."

On Tuesday, Robins finished with 9:24 of ice time and registered a team-high seven hits.

• Pastrnak's progress: Bruins first-round pick David Pastrnak, who has been dealing with a left shoulder injury, has not played in a preseason game. With only two preseason games remaining, the Bruins are hoping the 18-year-old forward will be cleared to play in at least one game, before a decision is made to keep him in Boston or send him back to Sweden, where he'll play in the Elite League.

"Our goal is to hopefully get him in a game," Julien said. "Today he practiced well and had more contact today, so certainly it's looking good. Again, until the trainers tell us he's ready for games, we're not going to play him. He's a young player we're not going to take a risk with. We would like, for our sake and his sake, he would like to at least get a game in and see how he fits in."

Pastrnak has been taking contact in practice the past two days.