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The hits just keep on coming for the Bruins.
With 50 man-games already lost to injury, the Bruins will add a new name to their injury list when that number goes up tonight, as Brad Marchand has been ruled out of Monday’s head-to-head against the Wild with an upper-body injury suffered in last Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Capitals.
“He’s out,… B’s head coach Bruce Cassidy said after a morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “He’s got an upper-body [injury], we’ll have an update a bit later today or tomorrow. But he won’t play.…
Targeted by the Capitals throughout the night, Cassidy did give credit to Marchand for playing through the ailment and finishing Saturday’s game, but would not speculate on the recovery time just yet.
“I don’t think so, but I thought that with a few other guys, so I don’t want to speculate anymore,… Cassidy said when asked if this was going to be a long-term issue for Marchand.
“It seems they’re coming fast and furious, the injuries [are].…
His injury means that the Bruins are now without Marchand, David Backes, David Krejci, Noel Acciari, Ryan Spooner, and Adam McQuaid. Add 'em up and you have some gigantic holes.
With Marchand out, Anders Bjork will move up to the left side of the first line with Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, while Jake DeBrusk will take Marchand’s spot on the first power-play unit.
Tuukka Rask will get the start in the Boston crease. Rask stopped 27-of-30 in a losing effort against the Caps in his last appearance, and enters play with a 2-4-2 record and .905 save percentage.
Minnesota counters with Devan Dubnyk, who shutout the Bruins in both head-to-heads last season.
The Bruins are 6-13-1 against the Wild all-time.
Loose ends: In addition to Marchand, David Krejci will also miss tonight’s game, and Krejci has been ruled out for the entire week, for that matter. The Bruins will re-assess where Krejci is this time next week… The Bruins and Ryan White made a mutual decision to terminate his professional tryout agreement with the club. This makes sense with Noel Acciari (finger) beginning to skate and join the team for some practices… Anton Khudobin is a game-time decision as the team’s backup.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.