What to make of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand’s status ahead of Bruins’ playoff opener against Panthers
Patrice Bergeron was the lone regular who did not skate during Boston's practice on Saturday morning.
Two days out from the start of their Stanley Cup playoffs push, the Bruins took to the ice on Saturday with one notable omission.
In a largely full practice session at Warrior Ice Arena, captain Patrice Bergeron was the lone player who wasn’t accounted for.
The 37-year-old center was pulled from Boston’s regular-season finale on Thursday in Montreal due to an upper-body injury, although the team noted it was a “precautionary” move.
Bergeron’s linemate in Brad Marchand did skate on Saturday, although he failed to finish the full session, especially once Jim Montgomery opted for a physical scrimmage.
But after practice wrapped, Montgomery echoed a familiar script when it came to Boston simply erring on the side of caution with its veteran forwards.
“We’re just giving him extra rest,” Montgomery said of Bergeron. “He’s had a long year. Same thing with Marchy. Marchy wanted to give it a try today, and he didn’t feel — he had a little bit of soreness. So I said, ‘Get off the ice.’
“We knew it was gonna be a hard practice, so we were very cautious. Even like [Matt Grzelcyk] is a little sore, so he didn’t partake in the scrimmage part of it. Just precautionary.”
Even though Montgomery downplayed the severity of Bergeron’s ailment, it was noteworthy that Boston opted to plug a proven middle-six pivot in Pavel Zacha into Bergeron’s spot on the top — rather than roll with a pure place-holder forward.
Perhaps it’s just a case of Montgomery putting a contingency plan in place, even though Saturday’s lineup reshuffle also meant that a potential third line of Charlie Coyle, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Taylor Hall still hasn’t logged many reps together.
Bertuzzi skated with both David Krejci and David Pastrnak as part of the subsequent domino effect with Bergeron’s exit.
Montgomery did note that Bergeron’s issue is “something he’s dealt with before”, adding that the star center knows how to deal with it.”
Barring a severe setback, it’s to be expected that both Bergeron and Marchand will be good to go for Game 1 against the Panthers on Monday.
Even if they’re both nursing injuries, Bergeron and Marchand have an extended track record of playing through issues.
Both forwards played all seven games of Boston’s first-round meeting with the Hurricanes last April before needing offseason elbow and hip surgery.
And frankly, there are few — if any — regulars in Boston’s dressing room who are free from any nagging injuries at this stage of the NHL calendar.
Reinforcements on the way
Besides Bergeron’s absence and Marchand’s exit, the Bruins received relatively good news on the injury front on Saturday afternoon.
Both Nick Foligno and Derek Forbort were regular participants during practice after missing the final weeks of the regular season with lower-body injuries.
Krejci was back on the ice at the second-line center spot after last playing on April 1, while Linus Ullmark was a full participant after appearing to tweak something during Tuesday’s win over the Capitals.
“We’re happy with our health right now,” Montgomery said. “You know, considering the long year and we have some forwards that are older. Our D is relatively young and really good, but, you know, we have some forwards [that are older]. It’s why we took the precautionary [approach] with us having a couple of days rest here, not to give No. 37 [too much work] and I didn’t want No. 63 out there, so I’m glad he got off [the ice].”
Even though Montgomery did not officially name Ullmark as Monday’s Game 1 starter (something he already did last month), the Bruins bench boss acknowledged that the Vezina Trophy frontrunner isn’t expected to be limited.
“We don’t have any issues with [Ullmark],” Montgomery said of his goalie. “He was out there in practice and I thought he performed well.”
Boston will have another full practice on Sunday and a morning skate on Monday before penciling in its full lineup for Game 1. But Foligno believes he’ll have the green light to play in his first game since Feb. 28.
“I think I’ve made all the threats I need to make to everybody,” Foligno said of getting clearance from the medical staff. “So hopefully that did the trick and I’ll be back for Game 1.”
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