Boston Bruins Lose Pavel Zacha to Upper-Body Injury in Saturday Game
The Boston Bruins added another name to the injured list Saturday afternoon as Pavel Zacha was ruled out of the game with an upper-body injury and did not return to the bench for the second period.
While the B’s still pulled off a 5-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes, Zacha’s absence tested their depth down the middle, especially with center Matt Poitras getting benched for a majority of the third period.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery did not have any additional information on the extent of Zacha’s injury postgame.
“Upper body, I’ll have more details Monday,” Montgomery said. “I just know it’s upper body, I haven’t seen him yet and talked to the doctors.”
Zacha had 6:42 of total ice time in the first period while skating on the first line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. With Zacha sidelined and Poitras on the backburner, Charlie Coyle, Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic in particular had to step up – not only in minutes, but with positional flexibility as well.
“Everyone takes a little more responsibility and you have to be on-guard and bring more focus because the lines are going to be kind of shuffled around, you don’t really know who’s going with you,” Coyle said.
Coyle, who scored Boston’s second goal of the game, had 20:17 of total ice time and was double-shifted at times within the top six. Frederic and Geekie – who have both played on the wing this season – slotted over to center to fill the gaps as Montgomery shuffled his lines.
“Obviously any time a player of his caliber goes down, it’s kind of a hit to us. We’ve got a good group,” Geekie said. “Everyone’s going to step up, everyone’s going to play more minutes. I’m just trying to go out there and do my job and just fit in anywhere I can.”
Zacha joins Charlie McAvoy and Derek Forbort in the Bruins’ sidelined players. McAvoy left Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres with an upper-body injury, and while he didn’t play Saturday, Montgomery said he’s improved. Forbort was placed on long-term injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body injury.
Both Mason Lohrei and Ian Mitchell have gotten into the lineup to fill those holes on the backend, and it’s yet to be seen if Boston will have to rearrange its forward group before facing the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night.
Leave a Reply