The Boston Bruins may be without their best all-around player and alternate captain for tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers.
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Patrice Bergeron might not be able to play tonight against the Florida Panthers tonight. The Bruins’ alternate captain was not on the ice for the team’s pregame skate, and that has led to speculation that the Bruins best player will be out for the game.
“He’s got some maintenance going on today and we’ll have to probably make that decision tonight,” offered Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien about Bergeron.
“It happened after practice,” he said, when he was asked about why Bergeron was absent from practice.
It hasn’t been the best starts for Bergeron this season. The 31-year old center started the season missing the first three games of the season with a lower-body injury. He has played in the last five games, putting up the game winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
According to the Bruins bench boss, it isn’t a return of the lower-body injury that hampered Bergy earlier in the season.
“Not an old issue; it’s a new one,” said Julien, who deemed Bergeron a “game-time decision.”
“We’ll know more as we get near the end of the day, whether he’ll be in the warmup and whether he’ll play,” offered Julien.
This puts the Black and Gold to be in the position to be down three of their top-six forwards. David Pastrnak is finishing out his two game suspension, and David Backes is recovering from elbow surgery.
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In the meantime, the Bruins have the recalled forward Sean Kuraly from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. Kuraly will be available for tonight’s game against the Panthers at. This is the first NHL recall of his career.