BRIGHTON, Mass – The Bruins aren’t officially ruling out Patrice Bergeron for Monday afternoon’s matinee against the Colorado Avalanche, but it’s a good bet that No. 37 will miss his second straight game for the Black and Gold.
Bergeron was wearing a maroon non-contact practice jersey while doing line rushes with his teammates on Sunday morning at Warrior Ice Arena, but the 32-year-old center didn’t finish practice with the Bruins after getting on the ice early to skate on his own. Bergeron and Ryan Spooner alternated shifts centering Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak during practice, and Cassidy said that he wouldn’t fully rule out Bergeron until Monday morning.
“He didn’t finish practice. He started it and took some line rushes, so he’s progressing,” said Cassidy. “How far he’s progressed is something we’ll determine in the morning. We’ll make a decision then as well. We’ve got three of [the game-time decisions], but Torey Krug and Austin Czarnik look a little closer [to playing] than Bergeron. But I wouldn’t rule any of them in or out until [Monday].”
Bergeron has now made it through just two partial practices in the last week while missing the season opener on Thursday night, and further compounds the difficult of him being in playing shape sooner rather than later. It’s pretty clear there is some frustration from the four-time Selke Winner at not being able to get off to a healthy start in each of the past two seasons, and watching when he’d much rather be competing.
“I’m in the same spot. I’m day-to-day, but it was good to stay on the ice with the team. It’s definitely a step forward. I’m feeling good but we want to be cautious, so the status is the same I guess,” said Bergeron, who said he initially suffered the lower body injury in practice and then tweaked it when he attempted to skate in the middle of this week before exiting the ice early. “It is frustrating anytime. It doesn’t matter if it’s the beginning or any time during the year. You don’t want to miss games. It’s tough to watch.
“I would definitely rather be on the ice. I’m more nervous watching than actually playing, so hopefully I’ll get back quickly. I’m not ruled out, but we’ll see what happens.”
With Bergeron expected out and both Krug and Czarnik looking like they may play on Monday afternoon vs. the Avs, here are the line combos and D-pairings from Sunday’s practice:
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Marchand-Spooner-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Krejci-Bjork
Schaller-Nash-Kuraly
Beleskey-Czarnik-Vatrano
Bergeron
Chara-Carlo
Miller-McAvoy
Krug-McQuaid
Grzelcyk-Postma
Rask
Khudobin
