Already without Patrice Bergeron and Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins will finish their current road trip without a couple more important pieces, as Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has ruled Zdeno Chara and Jake DeBrusk out for the next two games.
Considered day-to-day in both cases, the Bruins do not seem particularly alarmed in the case of DeBrusk, who took a bad bump into the boards in Carolina. Or in the case of their 40-year-old captain, either, after what was a pretty harmless-looking spill.
"I'm not worried it's long-term," Cassidy said when asked about Chara's injury. "But once he gets further evaluated we may get bad news, but that's the initial reaction right now."
Chara's absence will be the first of the season, and guarantees that the Bruins will not have a d-man play in all 82 of their games this season. Brandon Carlo played in all 82 last year, and it has been done just four times since 2007. Dennis Seidenberg did it in 2014-15, while Mark Stuart accomplished the feat from 2007 to 2009.
Defenseman Torey Krug, who exited Tuesday's game with an apparent injury, took part in the morning skate Thursday and is considered a gametime decision.
But in the event that he cannot go (or something goes wrong in a pregame warmup), the Bruins have recalled forward Anton Blidh and defenseman Paul Postma from the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis.
Blidh has skated in 59 games with Providence this season, recording nine goals and 13 assists for a career-high 22 points and a plus-nine rating. The agitating Blidh appeared in 19 games with Boston last season, recording one goal and one assist. Postma, meanwhile, returns to the NHL after posting five assists in five game AHL contests since being waived on deadline day, and has one assist in 12 games for the Big B's this year.
This is the first of four meetings between the Bruins and Panthers this season.
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