When Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha exited a game last month against the Philadelphia Flyers late in the second period at the TD Garden, he was ruled out with an upper-body injury. It was another blow in back-to-back games for the Black and Gold.
Two nights earlier against the Nashville Predators, Boston lost top center Elias Lindholm to an upper-body injury. Those two injuries left head coach Marco Sturm without his top two centers for the final two games before the break against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. Boston was still able to grab two out of four points with a pair of shootout losses, but the question for Zacha and Lindholm was whether or not either player would play in the Olympics.
As it turned out, Zacha was ruled out of the Olympics for Czechia, but Lindholm played for Sweden. Boston has resumed practices following the break with their first gaem back being on Thursday night at the TD Garden against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Zacha has been practicing for the first few days back, but he was wearing a red non-contact jersey. He took that off on Saturday when practice began. According to Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, Zacha revealed his injury.
Bruins Pavel Zacha said he suffered a concussion
Dupont reported that Zacha said he suffered a concussion, and it wasn't his first one. The good news as it appears he'll be good to return to the lineup against the Blue Jackets in what is going to be a massive game in terms of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Columbus is four points behind the Bruins at the break.
Sturm said that Zacha is "good to go" moving forward, which is big. Also big was Elias Lindholm playing in the Olympics after missing the final three games before the break. Losing Zacha and or Lindholm after the break would have been a big blow for the Black and Gold. The break appears to have come at the right time.