David Krejci Ends Up On The Wrong End Of A “Johnny Rocket”

March 17, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46) is attended to by a trainer after being injured against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It’s something we’ve seen in hockey before, a player goes down with an injury courtesy of “friendly-fire”, which just means they got hurt after getting hit with a shot that was fired by their own teammate. Well, it happened again on Sunday and this time the victim was Boston Bruins #1 center, David Krejci.

Krejci was parked out front of the Pittsburgh Penguins net with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd period of what would eventually become a 2-1 Penguins win, when Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk got the puck at the blueline before taking a few steps towards the net and getting off a bullet of a slapshot.

The shot caught a leaping Krejci somewhere unprotected and around his knee, he laid on the ice for quite some time before being helped off the ice and into the locker room, while putting very little pressure on his injured leg. Krejci did not return to the game after the injury.

“I just tried to rip one there,’’  said a somewhat depressed looking Boychuk. “It hit him. I hope he’s OK. I got a good pass there from Z (Zdeno Chara) and I had a whole lane and lots of time, so I put everything on it. I just hope he’s OK.’’

You got to feel for Boychuk as I’m sure he’s not too happy with himself after injuring the Bruins top pivot and with a slapshot no less. But he’d be smart to listen to head coach Claude Julien who when asked about Krejci’s injury, only offered this, “That’s hockey”.

Getting back to Krejci, the news on his injury after the game was few and far between as it usually is when it comes to an injured Bruins’ player these days, but Krejci was seen after the game walking gingerly to the team bus. He will also join the team on their trip to Winnipeg, which normally would be good news, but if you remember when Chris Kelly was hurt, he also traveled with the team to their next game before finding out he had a broken left-tibia and would be out indefinitely. Sorry to be a bit negative, but just trying to give you as many facts as I can.

With Kelly already out, the Bruins are suddenly starting to run out of centers. If Krejci is forced to miss an extended period of time look for Lane MacDermid to get the call on the wing with someone like Tyler Seguin moving to center on the first line or if the Bruins don’t want to beak up their lines they could always call-up center Ryan Spooner from Providence.

Krejci is 2nd on the Bruins in points with 7 goals and 17 assists for 24 points in 27 games.