Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was on the ice Thursday morning but his status for Friday night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers will be determined by the team’s medical staff.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was uncertain if Bergeron would make the trip to Sunrise, Fla., where the Bruins will play the next two opening round games at FLA Live Arena.
“He skated just now so that is obviously a positive sign,” said Montgomery during a press briefing at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton.
“But I have not talked to the medical staff and the athletic trainers about where he is at to determine if he will be on the trip or not.”
The Bruins’ captain suffered an undisclosed upper body injury in the season finale at Montreal and missed the first two games against the Panthers.
Bergeron’s leadership and prowess in the faceoff circle was sorely missed in the Bruins’ 6-3 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday night at the TD Garden.
“He carries himself with such confidence and his confidence gives energy to everyone else and that everything is OK,” said Montgomery.
“That is just the way he carries himself on good days and bad days. So, obviously, he is in in real good spirits mentally and he just wishes to be on the ice with us.”
Bergeron played in 78 regular season games and finished with 27 goals and 31 assists with a staggering plus 35 rating. His value to the Bruins in the postseason over the years can be measured in cold hard numbers.
Bergeron is second in team history with 167 postseason games played, tied for second with 49 goals, third with 78 assists and second with 127 points.
Pavel Zacha started in Bergeron’s place in the middle of the first line flanked by Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk in both games against the Panthers.
“For me, we’ve had a next man up attitude all year long,” said Montgomery. “I think our record is still 6-1 or 5-1 without him in the lineup, but everyone is thinking about the one loss right now.
“That is the most recent and that is human nature. But there is a lot of confidence in our group in what we can do no matter who is in the lineup.”
Bruins’ goalie Linus Ullmark won 40 games in the regular season and backboned the Bruins’ 3-1 win over the Panthers in Game 1. But a funny thing happened to Ullmark on the way to the Vezina Trophy in Game 2.
The Panthers scored five goals on 29 shots with Ullmark on duty in the blue paint. Ullmark was the victim of some bad puck decisions by the Bruins’ defense that led to breakaways and odd-man rushes. But Ullmark also gave up a pair of even-strength goals in the third period to Florida defenseman Brandon Montour on routine wrist shots from the right point.
“You can’t give up those kinds of chances,” said Montgomery.
Montgomery said after the game he was open to making changes for Game 3, one of which could have capable back-up Jeremey Swayman in the cage. Swayman was 24-6-4 with 2.27 goals against average in the regular season.
“We haven’t met as a staff and we are going to talk on the plane about those things and then we will make a determination up front and on the back end,” said Montgomery. “We are going to look at every option.”
If Ullmark gets the call, it would be his third game in five nights, a busy stretch he seldom saw in the regular season. Montgomery believes Ullmark can handle the workload if he does get the call.
“I would be completely comfortable going back to Linus,” said Montgomery. “He has done that a couple of times this year and obviously he has done really well.”
Marchand showed remarkable restraint while being targeted by the Panthers, most notably by right wing Ryan Lomberg and defenseman Radko Gudas. Lomberg skates on the Panthers’ checking line with center Anton Lundell and right wing Sam Reinhart.
The Panthers’ game plan was evident early when Lomberg levelled Marchand with a cross check and a few extra curriculars at 10:56 of the first.
That was only the first salvo on Marchand who, in his earlier days, would have responded in kind, much to the detriment of the Bruins. Marchand showed great restraint when routinely mugged by Gudas in the dirty areas.
“Brad has been a great leader for us and he’s been our best player in my opinion on how he sees plays on the ice and how he plays hard whistle to whistle,” said Montgomery. “Been the best example of how we want to play and he is getting targeted.
“We try and target their top players and they try to target our top players. He has done a great job controlling his emotions and not becoming emotional.”