BRIGHTON -- Once again, the Bruins are receiving bad news on the injury front.
David Krejci, who missed Saturday's game against the Sabres because of a nagging back problem, was missing from practice Wednesday for the third straight day. And afterwards, coach Bruce Cassidy said Krejci will miss at least the next two games.
“He’s been ruled out [against San Jose and Los Angeles], so he’ll be week-to-week now,” said Bruce Cassidy, of Krejci. “We’ll revisit it on Sunday or Monday.”
David Backes was in Krejci's place centering Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak, and presumably could man the middle on Thursday night against the big, physical Sharks.
The timing is a bit ironic for the Bruins, as they've lost Krejci just as Patrice Bergeron returned to action.
In the good news department, Kevan Miller has ditched the no-contact jersey and appears ready for full duty after also missing last weekend’s loss to Buffalo. Tuukka Rask was also a full participant, which indicates that the Finnish netminder has passed through the concussion protocol.
“It’s all positive things for both of those guys,” said Cassidy of imminent returns for Miller and Rask.
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Here are the line combos and D-pairings at morning practice without Krejci:
Marchand-Bergeron-Bjork
DeBrusk-Backes-Pastrnak
Schaller-Kuraly-Beleskey
Vatrano/White-Nash-Agostino
Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Miller-Postma
Rask
Khudobin
