Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy fears defenseman Brandon Carlo could miss significant time after being taken off the ice on a stretcher with a left leg injury.
Cassidy said Sunday that the swelling hasn’t gone down enough to make a definitive diagnosis Tony Dorsett Jersey , but added ”it’s probably not going to be good news.” Carlo was hurt Saturday when he landed awkwardly on his leg in the third period of a 5-1 win over Florida .
”You feel awful,” Torey Krug said of his defensive partner. ”It’s a tough break, but I know he’s got a lot of support and a lot of good people around him.”
The short-handed Bruins did get defenseman Zdeno Chara back for Sunday’s game at Philadelphia after a nine-game absence because of an upper-body injury. Chara was paired with Nick Holden, who moved to the right side.
Krug played with Adam McQuaid.
Center Riley Nash didn’t travel a day after needing more than 40 stitches in his ear, head and neck after getting hit with a puck during the game against the Panthers. He could rejoin the team for games in Tampa Bay and Florida this week.
Cassidy said defenseman Charlie McAvoy skated Sunday morning and could return Tuesday. He’s been sidelined 14 games with a sprained left knee ligament.
The Bruins also are hoping forward Rick Nash (upper body) could return this week.
Despite a long list of injuries all season, the Bruins entered Sunday atop the Eastern Conference with 109 points.
”When you think you’re finally maybe turning the corner, but I guess this is just how we’re going to be,” Cassidy said. ”It’s become a bit of our fight song, so to speak.”
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The Nashville Predators are right where they are supposed to be.
The pick by many to win the Stanley Cup in June Jordan Mills Jersey , the President’s Trophy winners are up 2-0 on Colorado in the first-round series and heading to Denver to finish off the pesky Avalanche.
While the series looks lopsided, it’s a lot closer than the 2-0 advantage. Colorado has led in both games and nearly rallied to force overtime in Saturday’s 5-4 Nashville win. Despite mounting injuries, the Avalanche are confident heading home, where they have won 28 games this season.
Still, the sting of losing both games in Nashville lingers for eighth-seeded Colorado ahead of Monday’s Game 3.
“We played hard, but we lost, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s tough,” center Nathan MacKinnon, who had a goal and an assist to give him three points in the series Julius Peppers Jersey , told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “I thought we played two pretty good games here in Nashville, and we couldn’t get a win.”
MacKinnon has been productive despite his line — which includes Mikko Rantanen and captain Gabriel Landeskog — being the focus of the Predators’ defense. He had 97 points in the regular season and is a serious Hart Trophy candidate as the NHL MVP, and he hasn’t slowed down in the postseason.
“Oh man, he’s special,” Predators forward Austin Watson told The Tennessean. “I mean, you don’t have the year he had this year without being a pretty incredible player. And just his line as a whole, they play the game with so much speed, you can’t get caught standing still.
“I mean, if you are Justin Reid Jersey , they’ll blow right around you. Even if you think you’re doing a good job on them, you can’t really take your foot off the gas at all or they’ll turn it back on you and get chances.”
The Predators have some special players, too, including Filip Forsberg, who scored a highlight-reel goal in Game 1. Nashville won’t take Colorado lightly because it knows how dangerous a No. 8 seed can be. The Predators reached the Cup finals last year as the eighth seed in the West.
But Nashville has a healthy squad that has won 12 straight against Colorado dating back to the end of the 2015-16 season. The Avalanche, on the other hand, are playing without No. 1 defenseman Erik Johnson, top goaltender Semyon Varlamov and may not have rookie defenseman Samuel Girard for Game 3.
Girard was scratched from Game 2 with an upper-body injury and his status for Monday’s Game 3 is not known.
Both teams are hoping for a cleaner game in Denver. Game 2 was cluttered with 14 penalties — seven for each team — which might have been a result of Nashville center Ryan Johansen’s hit on Colorado defenseman Tyson Barrie in Game 1.
The Avalanche felt Johansen should have been suspended but the league didn’t agree. One thing that came out of it was a rivalry was born.
Nashville’s goal is to get the series over quickly. A win in Game 3 will make it nearly impossible for Colorado to win the series, and the young team knows it.
“There’s definitely no quit on their side Jamie Collins Jersey ,” Johansen Saturday. “That’s with every team in the playoffs, but they play desperate, they play fast, they’ve got a lot of young skill over there. We’ve got to make sure we close out games better.”