Bruins do-it-all center Patrice Bergeron has suffered a broken right foot and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, general manager Don Sweeney announced today.
The injury occurred while blocking a shot in Toronto in a 4-3 loss on Feb. 24.
According to Sweeney, Bergeron had an x-ray that was negative following the conclusion of the game, and played through some discomfort in a 4-1 loss in Buffalo the next day. From there, the Bruins medical staff determined it was best to have a secondary, more definitive CT scan on Monday in Boston, which revealed a small fracture.
With Bergeron missing from the morning skate, Riley Nash moved up to the middle of a first line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak on the wings, while David Backes shifted to center of a third line featuring Brian Gionta on the right side and Danton Heinen on the left.
Those lines will not carry over to tonight's game against the Hurricanes, however, as deadline pickup Tommy Wingels is expected to join the team and play. This means that the 39-year-old Gionta, signed away an Olympic run with Team USA, will not suit back up in an NHL game just yet.
This will not be Bergeron's first absence of the year, as a lower-body injury held him out of the first five games of the regular season. The Bruins went 2-3-0 in that stretch.
The 32-year-old Bergeron has 27 goals and 54 points in 55 games this season.
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