The Bruins had a big bounce-back effort in Thursday night’s 4-0 win over the Rangers, but unfortunately they also continue to battle the injury bug.
Brad Marchand, who had three assists in the win, got banged up during the game and missed Friday’s practice as a result, putting his availability for Saturday’s matinee game in question.
“A little bit of maintenance because he got banged up last night,” coach Bruce Cassidy said of Marchand. “…I don’t want to speculate. I know Brad hates missing games, so we’ll see how he is in the morning. He wasn’t able to practice today, so hopefully he’s better tomorrow.”
Zach Senyshyn, who made his season debut Thursday night and looked like a good addition to the fourth line with his speed and aggressiveness, also suffered an upper-body injury during the game and will “miss some time,” according to Cassidy.
It’s a really unfortunate break for the 23-year-old Senyshyn, who had earned a call-up with a strong start to the season for AHL Providence and appeared to be turning a corner. It’s the second year in a row he’s had an NHL stint derailed by injury, as last November he suffered a knee injury that cut short a stretch that had seen him play pretty well across four games.
In other injury news, Tuukka Rask did not practice Friday and will miss a third straight game as the injury he suffered on Sunday continues to linger. The team originally thought it was something minor, and they still don’t think it’s too serious, but it has now forced him to miss a week.
Jaroslav Halak will get a third straight start, with Dan Vladar continuing to back up. If Rask’s injury carries over to next week, things will get interesting as the Bruins play on back-to-back nights Monday and Tuesday.
Cassidy said definitively that Halak won’t play both nights of the back-to-back, meaning Vladar or Jeremy Swayman -- who is 6-0-0 with a .945 save percentage in Providence -- would get a start if Rask isn’t ready yet.
“Getting treatment. Will not be available tomorrow,” Cassidy said of Rask. “Earliest will be the back-to-back in Pittsburgh, assuming he gets back on the ice Sunday. Plans going forward, Jaro Halak will play on Saturday afternoon. And then obviously if Tuukka’s not ready for the back-to-back, then it would be either Vladar or Swayman.”