Bruins eyeing Game 5 as a ‘likely’ return for Patrice Bergeron; Linus Ullmark a game-time decision for Game 3

"It’s tough, but we have a job to do.”

Patrice Bergeron will miss his third-straight game due to injury on Friday. Adam Hunger / AP

April 21, 2023

3 minutes to read

SUNRISE, Fla. – If the Bruins are going to take a 2-1 series lead in their first-round bout with the Panthers, they’re going to have to do it without their captain once again.

Bruins coach Jim Montgomery confirmed Friday morning that Patrice Bergeron did not travel with the team down to Florida due to a lingering upper-body injury.

The first-line center is ruled out for Friday’s Game 3 matchup at FLA Live Arena, and barring a change of plans (and last-minute flight down south), Bergeron won’t be in the mix for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon.

However, Montgomery offered up some optimism about Bergeron’s availability later in the series.

“We believe Game 5 is likely,” Boston’s bench boss acknowledged.

Bergeron has not played in a game since leaving Boston’s regular-season finale against Montreal on April 13 with that upper-body issue. At the time, the Bruins said Bergeron’s early exit was “precautionary.”

Since then, Bergeron has missed three-straight playoff contests and has yet to practice in a full-team setting. The 37-year-old forward skated with Boston’s skills staff on Wednesday and Thursday in conditioning sessions.

“I’m sure it’s tough. He’s obviously a big vocal leader for us. … I think it’s our job and go out there and have his back,” Matt Grzelcyk said of Bergeron’s status. “He’s had ours his whole career.

“We want to make sure we’re playing for him. We’ll miss his presence out there, he’s still a huge part of it. But we have a lot of leaders in this room who can lead by example and pick up that way and speak up a little bit more. It’s tough, but we have a job to do.”

Beyond the on-ice impact of Bergeron’s absence against the Panthers, the optics surrounding the circumstances of his injury have drawn criticism.

Bergeron was pulled after just one period of play during Game No. 82 against the Canadiens — a game that had little significance for a Bruins team that had already shattered plenty of regular-season records.

But Montgomery said that playing several veterans over that final stretch of regular-season games was part of the long-term plan that the coaches, front office, and sports-science staff charted out.

“Our hindsight is we don’t have any reservations about what we did, because we laid it out with where we were in the regular season with four weeks to play,” Montgomery said. “We talked to sports science, and then we talked to [Don Sweeney]. I talked about, if we have a chance to rest people, we’re going to rest them. And then we consulted Bergy, and I think he missed five games.

“And I wanted — and Bergy wanted — the last two games to ramp up for getting a rhythm for the playoffs. Life happens. Unfortunately, [he] tweaked something in that last game. Even with hindsight, we would still do it exactly the same way. So that’s how it’s easy to move forward when you have no regret for what you did because it was a well-thought-out plan.”

Beyond Bergeron’s absence, the Bruins might have to trudge ahead in Game 3 without their top netminder in Linus Ullmark.

Montgomery said that Ullmark will be a “game-time decision” for Friday night, with Jeremy Swayman standing as the next man up in net. Montgomery doesn’t believe that Ullmark’s current ailment is related to whatever prompted him to leave Boston’s penultimate regular-season game against the Capitals on April 11.

Beyond Bergeron’s injury and the uncertainty around Ullmark, Montgomery plans to put his entire lineup in a blender, based on rushes at morning skate.

Charlie Coyle took Patrice Bergeron’s spot as Boston’s first-line center, while David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha were pushed down to the third line.

Matt Grzelcyk is expected to draw into the lineup and skate with Charlie McAvoy. Connor Clifton will be the odd man out on defense.

Here’s a look at Boston’s projected lineup for Game 3:

Marchand-Coyle-Frederic
Hall-Krejci-DeBrusk
Bertuzzi-Zacha-Pastrnak
Lauko-Nosek-Hathaway

Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Lindholm-Carlo
Forbort-Orlov

Swayman