Bruins’ David Krejci returns to lineup for Game 6 against Panthers
Krejci missed the previous three games against the Panthers due to an upper-body injury.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Bruins are getting some added help down the middle as they try to close out the Panthers on the road Friday night.
After missing the last three games with an upper-body injury, David Krejci will return to Boston’s lineup for Game 6 of their first-round series against the Panthers.
Krejci took part in warmups just ahead of puck drop at FLA Live Arena, but the 37-year-old center did not take part in line rushes — hinting that perhaps he wasn’t completely cleared for game action.
But after warmups wrapped, the Bruins announced that Krejci will slot back into his usual spot as Boston’s second-line center, with fellow Czech forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha flanking him on the wing.
After taking part in conditioning drills at Warrior Ice Arena earlier this week, Krejci traveled with the team down to South Florida on Thursday and took part in morning skate with his teammates on Friday.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery noted after Friday’s practice that Krejci was “checking boxes” as far as his return, but that the team was still “uncertain of his availability.”
“I’ll take warmup and see how it feels,” Krejci said Friday morning. “I believe in every single guy in here. We watched some videos, we know what we can be better at and we’ll try to do that tonight. If I’m in, I’ll try to be at my best and help the team as much as I can.”
With Krejci back in the middle, Boston’s top-six unit has a bit more consistency. The Bruins outscored opponents, 34-14, during the 445:22 of 5v5 ice time that the “Czeching Line” of Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak logged during regular-season action.
During the 5:37 of 5v5 reps where Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Jake DeBrusk was reunited in Game 5, the Bruins held a 13-1 edge in shot attempts.
Here are Boston’s projected lines for Game 6:
Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk
Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak
Hall-Coyle-Bertuzzi
Foligno-Nosek-Hathaway
Orlov-McAvoy
Lindholm-Carlo
Forbort-Clifton
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