The Bruins will be without three top players when they face the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Captain Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Hampus Lindholm will not be in uniform because of nagging injuries, coach Jim Montgomery told reporters in Raleigh. He said Bergeron is also battling an illness that “progressively got worse during the game” on Saturday against Tampa Bay.

The injuries allowed them to make an emergency call-up and the Oskar Steen will make his season debut for Boston. He’s got 14-17-31 totals in 62 games in Providence.

Montgomery hinted that the injured players will be back in the lineup on Tuesday when he B’s return home to play Nashville.

“We don’t want to get to the point where they couldn’t play and it’s getting close to that point. So we have an opportunity to rest guys for two days because of those nagging injuries. They’re playing through some pain right now. We don’t want them to progressively get worse,” said Montgomery.

The B’s have split the first two meetings with Carolina and have not won at PNC Arena since capturing the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019.