Patrice Bergeron to rejoin Bruins practice on Tuesday; David Krejci to undergo further testing for upper-body injury

"He's been working hard. And we'll see how that progression translates tomorrow and go from there.”

Patrice Bergeron (left) is set to rejoin Bruins practice on Tuesday morning at Warrior Ice Arena. Barry Chin / Globe Staff

By Conor Ryan

April 24, 2023

2 minutes to read

The Bruins might have some reinforcements on the way ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 matchup against the Panthers at TD Garden.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney noted on Monday that Patrice Bergeron is expected to join the Bruins for their full-squad practice on Tuesday at Warrior Ice Arena.

It will be the captain’s first practice with the roster since exiting Boston’s regular-season finale on April 13 with a nagging upper-body injury.

“We’ll gauge his progression and go from there,” Sweeney said of Bergeron’s status. “As everybody knows, he’s day to day and we’ll see how he is when he integrates into other guys on the ice besides just himself.”

As for David Krejci, who missed Boston’s two road games in South Florida with an upper-body injury, Sweeney added that the 36-year-old pivot “likely” won’t practice on Tuesday.

“I think we’ll have a better idea that — he’s having further testing done today,” Sweeney said of Krejci. “We may have an update, but I don’t promise you that until the doctors can get back to us.”

Bergeron’s recovery timetable falls in line with Jim Montgomery’s proclamation on Friday that Game 5 was going to be the veteran center’s “likely” return to game action.

Even though Bergeron did not make the trip down to Florida with the team for Games 3 and 4, he was skating on the ice at Warrior over the weekend as he continued to ramp up his conditioning efforts.

“It really goes on the medical advice as to what’s best for him,” Sweeney said of the decision to keep Bergeron back ahead of Boston’s road trip south. “They ruled out that they just didn’t think it would be his best interest to be available for either one of those games and took the necessary time. But he’s been working hard. And we’ll see how that progression translates tomorrow and go from there.”

Given Boston’s 3-1 commanding edge in this best-of-seven series with the Panthers, the Bruins might have the luxury of sitting Bergeron for a longer stretch, even if he’s cleared to play on Wednesday night.

But Montgomery didn’t endorse such a strategy when posed that question on Sunday night.

“If they and the doctors say they’re able to play — they’re playing,” Montgomery said of Bergeron and Krejci potentially playing in Game 5. “You don’t take chances in the playoffs. You don’t wait. I know he’s gonna get another eight days of rest. If [Bergeron] is healthy and we know what the situation is. If he gets the green light, he’s playing on Wednesday.”