Patrice Bergeron will practice on Tuesday and if things go well he will return to the Bruins’ lineup for Game 5 on Wednesday. Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press
For the first time since April 13, when the Bruins take the ice for practice on Tuesday, Patrice Bergeron is expected to be with them.
According to General Manager Don Sweeney, who met with the media on Monday, Bergeron is expected to skate with the team for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in the first period of Boston’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens. Depending on how he responds will determine his status for Game 5 against the Panthers on Wednesday.
The news was not as good for David Krejci. Sweeney said Krejci wasn’t expected to practice and was receiving further testing on Monday.
For the Panthers, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Anthony Duclair, who each missed Game 4, both participated in optional practice according to the Miami Herald’s David Wilson who tweeted:
“The Panthers will know more about Duclair and Aaron Ekblad tomorrow. Both were in for an optional practice and treatment today. Florida will practice again tomorrow before leaving for Boston.”
AS EXPECTED, it has been a contentious series with Florida agitator Matthew Tkachuk in the middle of all of it. Late in Game 2, he was caught on a hot mic saying some ungentlemanly and unprintable things to Tomas Nosek.
Asked if Tkachuk has gone over the line, Brad Marchand – known to deliver a barb or two himself – took much bigger issue with what he feels is the invasive nature of the coverage from the league’s rights holders.
“I think the NHL and the media outlets have crossed the line in allowing those mics to continue to play and try to go down and listen to what’s said on the benches while that’s going on,” said Marchand. “There’s a reason why guys don’t want mics on the bench and that’s why. Because they’re going to take advantage of it at some point and they did. Regardless of what’s said by Tkachuk or other guys, there should never be an instance where a mic picks up any of that stuff. What’s said on the ice, what’s said on the benches should be there. That’s the way guys play, especially come playoff times. And the fact that the media outlets allowed that to happen is very disrespectful to the agreement that we have in place and that’s how guys are going to want to take them off the benches and take the guy between the benches way out of there, because it’s going to get guys in trouble. It’s not fair. It’s not right.”
THE LEAGUE FINED Tkachuk $5,000 for cross-checking Boston forward Garnet Hathaway during Sunday’s Game 4 loss. Tkachuk received a minor penalty on the play at the end of the first period but his behavior was blamed for skirmishes throughout the game.
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