Patrice Bergeron likely won’t be available for the Bruins until Game 5 of their series against the Panthers. Boston faces Florida in Game 3 on Friday. Steven Senne/Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. — Boston captain Patrice Bergeron did not accompany the Bruins on their trip to Florida for Games 3 and 4 of an Eastern Conference first-round series with the Panthers.
He missed Game 1 due to illness and Game 2 to an unspecified upper-body injury. Game 3 is Friday evening.
“We believe Game 5 is likely,” Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery said.
Bergeron was the Bruins’ third-leading scorer in the regular season with 27 goals and 31 assists for 58 points.
The 37-year-old forward got hurt in the first period of the regular-season finale in Montreal, and also missed four of eight games late in the season, with the Bruins having nothing left to play for. Bergeron returned for Boston’s last two games.
“We wanted, I wanted and Bergy wanted the last two games to ramp up, to get into a rhythm for the playoffs,” Montgomery said. “Life happens. Unfortunately, tweaked something in that last game. Even with the hindsight, we would still do it exactly the same way. That’s how it’s easy to move forward when you have no regret with what you did, because it was a well-thought-out plan.”
The Bruins also said that goaltender Linus Ullmark will be a game-time decision for Game 3 against the Panthers on Friday night. Ullmark led the NHL in wins (40), goals-against average (1.89) and save percentage (.938) during the regular season.
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