Just when you thought things could not look any brighter for the prospects of a Stanley Cup run for the Bruins, a nasty bug has hit the dressing room to wreak havoc on the front-runners’ post-season lineup.
On the morning of Monday’s Game 1 against the Florida Panthers, coach Jim Montgomery could not say whether his captain Patrice Bergeron would play or who his goaltender was going to be.
Bergeron, who left Thursday’s regular season finale in Montreal with what was termed an upper body injury, did not take part in the Bruins’ two weekend practices, nor did he participate in the optional morning skate on Monday that saw a small group of players hit ice at Warrior Arena. Bergeron has not only been dealing with what Montgomery called a nagging injury, he was also battling the bug.
Ullmark, who left last Tuesday’s home finale with a lower body injury, did go out on the ice briefly, as did Jeremy Swayman, who had missed Sunday’s practice with illness. Providence goalie Brandon Bussi was recalled on an emergency basis in case one of the goalie’s was not able to suit up. Of the two key players, it seemed as though Ullmark was the more likely to play.
Montgomery also intimated that there were other players who were questionable.
How disconcerting is that?
“A little bit,” said Montgomery.”I’d love to come in here and tell you the exact lines and D pairings and who’s starting in net, but the luxury we have is we have incredible depth and whoever ends up being healthy enough to go tonight, we know we have an opportunity to have success if we play Bruins hockey. We know it’s going to be a great test no matter what, no matter who’s in the lineup for us because we know how good the Florida Panthers are.”
Asked if it was injury or illness that made Ullmark questionable, Montgomery wasn’t giving it up.
“We’re just going to see how he feels this morning. And Swayman was one of the guys who fell ill, so we’ll see how he feels as well,” said Montgomery.
The bug has been going through the roster for a couple of weeks. David Pastrnak, Tomas Nosek, Jakub Lauko, and now Bergeron and Swayman are players that we know have been felled by it. Lauko lost eight pounds when he dealt with it, said Montgomery.
Montgomery, who maintained his usual upbeat outlook, pointed to how the team responded when playing without important players, first at the start of the year when they were missing Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand and Matt Grzelcyk because of offseason surgery, and later in the year when they were resting players.
“I think our mental depth, because of Bergeron, because of the culture that’s been here, I don’t worry about It. We went into Carolina without Bergeron, Marchand and (Hampus) Lindholm and then Pastrnak and McAvoy and (David) Krejci took over the leadership reins. We’re blessed in the locker room,” said Montgomery. “I look at the beginning of the year when we had three guys out and we may have three guys out tonight. But (GM) Don Sweeney’s done an incredible job of building the depth of our lineup throughout the year. We are going to put a really good lineup out on the ice no matter who is out there.”
This isn’t the first time that the B’s have been hit by a bug at the wrong time. When they went on their Stanley Cup run of 2011, captain Zdeno Chara was hit with a bug prior to Game 1 of the playoffs against the Canadiens. He was ineffective in the firs game and then, after spending the night in the hospital with dehydration because of the illness, he had to miss Game 2. The B’s lost both those games at home, but bounced back to win the series and go on a storied run.
Whether or not history can repeat itself, this is something the club would rather not be dealing with right now.
Montgomery did say that David Krejci, who missed the last six games with a lower body injury, and Derek Forbort, out since March 16, would be back in the lineup. He also said there’s a good chance Nick Foligno, out since February 28, would return.