How Bruins have been able to overcome injuries to Bergeron and Krejci
Patrice Bergeron returned to practice on Tuesday after missing the first four games of the Bruins’ first-round series against the Panthers. He wore a regular jersey and took part in every drill, showing no visible limitations in the process.
That was not a surprise. Coach Jim Montgomery said as early as Friday that Bergeron was “likely” to return for Game 5, and general manager Don Sweeney confirmed on Monday that Bergeron would be practicing on Tuesday.
“Today was a good day,” Bergeron said after practice. “We’ll see tomorrow how I feel. I’m not anticipating any setbacks. So far, so good.”
What was a surprise was the line Bergeron skated on, primarily because of who was not on his left. For the first time in seemingly forever, Bergeron and Brad Marchand were on different lines.
Bergeron was centering Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak, a duo that has found some chemistry with other centers -- mostly Pavel Zacha -- but needs some defensive help, which Bergeron can obviously provide.
Marchand was on what we’ll call the “third” line with Charlie Coyle and Nick Foligno. Marchand and Coyle have played together with Bergeron out and have shown some good chemistry, especially as a matchup line that gets a lot of defensive-zone shifts against the Panthers’ top forwards. Foligno has played really well the last two games after looking not quite fully up to speed in Games 1 and 2 as he returned from a leg injury.
The “second” line was Zacha centering Taylor Hall and Jake DeBrusk. Those three finished Game 4 together and combined for the goal that extended Boston’s lead to 4-2. The Bruins outshot the Panthers 4-1 during their brief time together.
The fourth line remained Tomas Nosek between Jakub Lauko and Garnet Hathaway, with Trent Frederic and A.J. Greer skating as extra forwards. David Krejci did not practice, but did skate on his own before practice. Montgomery said Krejci will be out for Game 5, but could be a possibility for Game 6 if the series goes that long.
So, will these actually be the Bruins’ lines come 7 p.m. Wednesday night? Well, first things first: Bergeron still needs to get final clearance to play. Montgomery said he has “a couple” more boxes to check. He previously said Bergeron will be in as long as he is medically cleared.
(UPDATE: Montgomery said Wednesday morning that Bergeron will take warmup Wednesday night and be a game-time decision.)
Secondly, Montgomery didn’t want to commit to any line combinations for Game 5.
“It’s just for me to look at lines,” Montgomery said. “I know what Marchy and Bergy look like. I don’t know if that’s gonna be our lines tomorrow. I said to Marchy, ‘The tough part would be if I say Bergeron’s line’s up, we’re gonna get too many men if you’re not on his line.’”
He took a similar approach when asked about Frederic dropping down to what appears to be a healthy scratch spot.
“Just I’m looking at lines,” Montgomery said. “I know what Freddy’s done. I like what certain guys have done. I haven’t seen Fliggy [Foligno] on the right side potentially with a hard matchup. So, I just wanted to see what they would look like.”
That all could be the truth, or it could be the playoff gamesmanship of wanting to keep your opponent guessing. The new combinations do make some sense for the reasons laid out above, as weird as it is to see Bergeron and Marchand separated.
Bergeron, for his part, said he’ll be ready to play with anyone.
“I’ve said it many times: I have so much respect and so much chemistry with Brad, but that being said, I can play with anyone, I want to play with anyone,” Bergeron said. “I think the guys have so much talent. Whoever is on my left side or my right side, on this team it doesn’t really matter. The depth is there, and you have to do your job. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about bringing what you can bring to the table no matter who’s alongside you.”
We’ll find out Wednesday night what the lineup actually looks like. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on NESN and ESPN.
Here was the full Tuesday practice lineup, while noting that the first three lines could probably be listed in any order:
Tyler Bertuzzi - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall - Pavel Zacha - Jake DeBrusk
Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Nick Foligno
Jakub Lauko - Tomas Nosek - Garnet Hathaway
Trent Frederic, A.J. Greer
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Dmitry Orlov
Jakub Zboril - Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Brandon Bussi
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