Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo finally gets his chance to compete in the playoffs

Brandon Carlo has spent three full seasons with the Bruins, but injuries kept him from competing in the playoffs in his first two years. That should change when the B’s open the playoffs on Saturday against the Maple Leafs.

BOSTON -- He’s only 22 years old, so his face should still be somewhat fresh.

It’s not supposed to be this fresh, though -- and come Thursday night at TD Garden, Brandon Carlo’s face will be as fresh as you’ll find in the Bruins lineup: Carlo has played 230 of a possible 246 regular-season games over his three seasons in the NHL, but he hasn’t played one of the Bruins’ 18 playoff games since he cracked the lineup in 2016-17.

“Around the league, there are guys who don’t get the opportunity to play in the playoffs for four, five, six years, even more,” Carlo said. “I’ve kind of looked at that to help, to try not to make myself too nervous. I’m 22, and my first go-around at the playoffs isn’t later on in my career.”

It was supposed to happen two years ago, but Capitals star Alex Ovechkin left Carlo with a concussion on a check from behind in the Bruins’ final regular-season game, and the rookie defenseman didn’t recover in time to join the first-round series against the Senators. Carlo didn’t come quite as close last year -- but still, he was very close: He sustained a season-ending ankle fracture on March 31, in the Bruins’ 77th game of the season.

Carlo was relieved, then, to make it through last Thursday’s meaningless game against the Wild, and not too disappointed to be held out of Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Lightning.

“For sure, there was kind of a breath of relief,” he said. “You don’t really expect something to happen, but it’s kind of in the back of your head that it may happen again. So I’m glad I got through it, and glad to be at this point.”

The B’s are pretty glad about it, too. They’ll get to use a Top 4 defenseman who has missed two straight postseasons, and Carlo (6-foot-5, 212 pounds) replaces some of the size the Bruins’ blue line won’t have when their first-round series against the Maple Leafs begins on Thursday night at TD Garden (7:05, NESN, WBZ-FM 98.5): Kevan Miller, who did get hurt (right knee) on Thursday, isn’t expected to be ready for Game 1.

“You have that big body that can defend well, can skate,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Carlo, who missed nine games with an upper body injury in November, but still led the defense corps with 72 games played. “The size factor, the ability to play 20, 22 minutes (20:55, to be exact), reliable minutes, is probably the biggest thing you miss at this time of year -- especially when you start getting into extended games. (Carlo) is a guy who can handle that workload.”

Carlo is about to find out what contemporaries like Matt Grzelcyk (25) and Charlie McAvoy (21) have already learned: They’ve spent less time in the NHL than Carlo, but both have already gained playoff experience.

“They’re still a little more fresh to this than guys like (B’s captain Zdeno Chara; 159 career playoff games) or Patrice (Bergeron; 112),” Carlo said. “I can ask the guys who just had their first year of going through it, or the year before that, about their first playoff, and what to expect.”

Carlo won’t really know what it’s like until Thursday, though.

“Even talking about it sometimes doesn’t do it justice at all,” said McAvoy, who had just left Boston University and played his first four pro games at AHL Providence when he was thrust into the playoffs two years ago, at age 19. “(Carlo) is just going to have to experience it for himself, and I’m so excited that he finally gets the chance to do it.”

AROUND THE BOARDS: Other Bruins who enter the series without playoff experience are first-year pro Karson Kuhlman (23; 11 NHL games) and journeyman defenseman Steven Kampfer, 30, who has played 201 NHL games for four teams but never had a postseason experience. Kuhlman will probably start the series as the second-line right wing with Jake DeBrusk and center David Krejci; Kampfer seems to have the inside line to replace Miller in Game 1. If not Kampfer, second-year pro Connor Clifton (19 NHL games), 23, could potentially play his first NHL postseason game … Defenseman John Moore (upper body) and forward Sean Kuraly (hand) both skated in non-contact jerseys before Monday’s practice. Cassidy indicated that both could play at some point “in the middle of the series,”