Bruins’ Matt Grzelcyk anticipated to overlook ‘a few weeks’ with upper-body damage

Bruins

The Bruins might be with out two of their beginning defensemen throughout Thursday’s recreation in opposition to Toronto.

The Bruins’ blue line is anticipated to take a success.

Talking after Boston’s 3-2 comeback win over the Panthers on Monday night time, Jim Montgomery introduced that defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is anticipated to be out “a pair weeks” on account of an upper-body damage.

Grzelcyk exited Monday’s recreation halfway by the third interval, ending the sport with simply 3:29 of ice time. It was unclear what triggered the fleet-footed defenseman to go away the sport early.

With Grzelcyk sidelined and Charlie McAvoy finally faraway from Monday’s recreation within the third interval on account of a match penalty, Boston needed to roll out a four-man grouping of Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Derek Forbort, and Kevin Shattenkirk for the ultimate 13+ minutes of play in opposition to Florida.

Grzelcyk garnered reward from Montgomery final week for his robust play as of late, with the 29-year-old blueliner incomes extra reps on the penalty kill whereas persevering with to type an efficient D pairing subsequent to McAvoy.

The duo of McAvoy and Grzelcyk have logged the second-most 5v5 minutes collectively amongst Bruins defensive companions (87:33) this season — with Boston holding a 3-1 edge in objectives scored over that prolonged stretch of play.

If McAvoy faces further self-discipline from the NHL Division of Participant Security for his excessive hit in opposition to Florida’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Boston might want to name up two defensemen forward of its anticipated matchup in opposition to the Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Ian Mitchell and Jakub Zboril stand to be on the entrance of the road in Windfall because of their earlier reps in NHL ranks. However Boston might additionally take an extended have a look at blue-chip prospect Mason Lohrei, who was one of many staff’s remaining roster cuts earlier than the beginning of the common season.

Lohrei has performed in seven whole video games with the Windfall Bruins this season, recording 4 assists over that stretch.