The Bruins would like the regular-season wins record. They want to make sure their game is in order heading into the playoffs. But their clear No. 1 goal over the final week of the regular season was to stay healthy.
In that department, there was a major scare Thursday night. Midway through the second period of the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, star defenseman Charlie McAvoy was injured in a collision with teammate Patrice Bergeron.
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McAvoy was clearly shaken up, and did not take another shift. During the second intermission, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.
While the Bruins can afford to rest McAvoy over their final four regular-season games if needed, it would obviously be a major blow if the injury lingers into the playoffs, which are expected to begin on April 17 or 18.
Fortunately for the Bruins, it doesn't appear it will come to that. Coach Jim Montgomery said after the game that McAvoy not returning was "just precautionary" and that they don't believe it's anything serious.
That said, Montgomery also acknowledged that it's possible that the team could sit McAvoy through the weekend, when the Bruins have another back-to-back. The same goes for David Krejci, who has missed the last two games and could potentially miss a couple more.
Despite missing time at the start of the year due to offseason shoulder surgery, McAvoy is having another excellent season. He is second on the Bruins in average ice time at 22:34, and his 50 points in 64 games give him a career-best 0.78 points per game.
The Bruins’ defense is already without Derek Forbort, who is not expected to return during the regular season as he rehabs a lower-body injury. Forbort just started skating on his own on Thursday.
Jakub Zboril would be expected to see more playing time if McAvoy does miss a couple games, and the Bruins would probably call up another defenseman from AHL Providence as well.
The Bruins return to the ice Saturday night at home against the New Jersey Devils.
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