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Don Sweeney shares a concerning update on Patrice Bergeron.

If you have paid any attention to the chatter regarding the Boston Bruins on social media over the last few days, you’ve probably seen quite a bit of concern and criticism surrounding the status of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.

After being out for a while and dealing with some injuries, Bergeron would make his return to the ice on the 13th of April for a meaningless game against the Montreal Canadiens. Bergeron accumulate just 5 minutes and 36 seconds of ice time before leaving the game early, and since exiting that game he has been notably absent from all of the Bruins’ skates.

On Sunday, Don Sweeney addressed Bergeron’s status ahead of the Bruins’ first game in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, and his comments were not at all reassuring.

“He’s taken another extra day today again obviously,” began Sweeney on Sunday. “It’s to be decided tomorrow if he feels well enough he’ll play.”

It sounds like Bergeron is dealing with both nagging injuries as well as an illness, so there will be quite a bit up in the air as the Bruins set to face off against the Florida Panthers on Monday night. The good news here is, as Sweeney pointed out, it’s not like missing a few practices is going to somehow diminish the quality of player that Bergeron is on a nightly basis.

“Patrice doesn’t need extra days of practice,” said Sweeney. “If he feels better he’ll play.”

Somewhat concerning was the fact that Sweeney confirmed Jeremy Swayman is also dealing with an illness of his own, and you have to hope that there isn’t some kind of bug going around the Bruins locker room just before the Stanley Cup playoffs.

For Sweeney’s full comments, check out the video below:

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Disaster strikes the Boston Bruins just hours before Game 1.

Keystone

It’s hard to imagine how Monday morning could possibly get any worse for the Boston Bruins.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has just shared what can only be described as a boatload of bad news on Monday morning, just hours before his team is set to face off against the Florida Panthers for Game 1 of their first round Stanley Cup playoffs series.

Perhaps the biggest news of the day comes in the form of a call up, with the Bruins calling up Brandon Bussi from the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. The call up of Bussi appears to indicate that the Bruins aren’t sure both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will be ready to play for Game 1, and there is good reason for those concerns.

Swayman missed practice on Sunday with what Montgomery described as an illness, although he did skate on Monday morning, as did Linus Ullmark. Montgomery though describe Ullmark as a “gametime decision” which may indicate that he is also feeling somewhat under the weather.

Bussi has never appeared in an NHL game before so it would be a huge step up for him to enter the Stanley Cup playoffs. That being said, he had an outstanding performance with the Providence Bruins of the AHL this season, recording a 2.40 goals against average and a .924 save percentage over 32 games.

It sounds like there is some kind of bug floating around the Bruins locker room and it sounds like several key members of the Bruins roster may be dealing with that illness at this time. Montgomery confirmed that David Krejci is in, Derek Forbort is in, and that Nick Foligno is likely to play, but the lineup remains up in the air given the questionable status of some players.

Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron will also be a gametime decision, and you have to suspect that if he misses Game 1 the Bruins will be heavily criticized for having him play against the Montreal Canadiens in a meaningless game at the end of the regular season.

The last thing you want at this stage of the season is an illness going around the locker room, and unfortunately disaster seems to have struck the Bruins at the worst possible time.

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Huge update from Bruins forward Nick Foligno.

The Boston Bruins were the National Hockey League’s best team in the 2022-23 regular season and, unfortunately for their opposition in the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs, it sounds like everything is starting to line up for the Bruins as they head into those playoffs.

Injured Bruins forward Nick Foligno has provided a huge update on his status as far as the playoffs are concerned, indicating that he would be ready to go immediately. There was the expectation that Foligno would return at some point during the playoffs, but for him to return so quickly is a huge boon for the Bruins.

Foligno has been working hard to get healthy and last week even joked about the fact that he might make a few threats to make sure he was ready for the first round.

“I’m gonna try my hardest and probably throw some threats at people if not,” joked the veteran forward.

On Saturday, Foligno appeared to confirm that those threats were successful, hinting at the fact that he will be back in Game 1.

“I think I’ve made all the threats I need to make to everybody. So hopefully that did the trick and I’ll be back for Game 1,” joked Foligno once again.

There is still some concern around the status of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, but other than that everything is lining up for the Bruins.

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Full schedule announced for Bruins vs. Panthers in Round 1.

AP

The Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers are set to clash in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and now we have a better idea of how the series will play out.

On Saturday, the National Hockey League released the full schedule for the upcoming series with the notable exception of the exact start time for games 5, 6, and 7 likely due to the fact that they might not be needed should one team or the other dominate the series.

The Bruins and their impressive record this season have earned home ice advantage and that means that the first two games will take place in Boston on Monday and Wednesday. Following the conclusion of Game 2 on Wednesday, the Bruins will then travel to Florida for a pair of games, the first of which will be on Friday and the second of which will be on Sunday.

Should the series require more than 4 games, the series will head back to Boston the following Wednesday for Game 5, back to Florida on the following Friday for Game 6, and finally back to Boston on the following Sunday should Game 7 be required.

Here’s a full look at the schedule, including the start times for the first four matchups:

Monday, April 17 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Wednesday, April 19 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Friday, April 21 – 7:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 23 – 3:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Wednesday, April 26 – TBD – TD Garden
Friday, April 28 – TBD – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 30 – TBD – TD Garden

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David Pastrnak reaches 60 goals with a hat trick on Sunday!

The Boston Bruins are playing what would normally be a relatively meaningless game with their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs already secured, but this is turning into a memorable night for the Bruins nonetheless.

Bruins forward David Pastrnak has hit a major milestone with his 60th goal of the regular season and has done so in epic fashion, recording a hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night.

Here’s Pasta’s first goal of the night:

And the second:

And the hat trick, his 60th goal of the season:

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Puck to the back of the head forces Garnet Hathaway out of the game.

The Boston Bruins may have lost one of their forwards at an inopportune point in the season.

On Sunday night, during a game between the Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway was knocked out of the game when he was struck in the back of the head by a shot courtesy of teammate Connor Carrick.

It is unclear if the shot from Carrick deflected off of a Flyers stick or not before it struck Hathaway, but the force of the blow to the back of Hathaway’s helmet was enough to send him racing back to the locker room. What is clear is that Carrick did not intend to hit his teammate, and this has been an unfortunate accident in what is a relatively meaningless game for the Bruins at this point in the season as far as the standings are concerned.

Hopefully the injury to Hathaway won’t prove to be serious, we will keep you posted as updates on his status become available.

Update: Hathaway has made his way back to the bench and even took a shift before the end of the second period. It would seem the National Hockey League’s concussion spotters have cleared him, a great sign for the Bruins.

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Bruins set a single-season NHL record on Sunday night.

Eric Canha/CSM/Zuma

The 2022-23 Boston Bruins can legitimately make a case that they are the greatest regular season team in the history of the National Hockey League.

On Sunday night, the Bruins entered a game against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 3-way tie for the most wins in regular season history with 62. That record was shared with the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, but with a win over the Flyers on Sunday the Bruins earned their 63rd win of the season and claimed the record for themselves.

The Bruins now stand alone atop the mountain having achieved a feat that no other team in the history of the NHL has managed to do and doing so while playing in the Atlantic Division, considered by many to be among the toughest divisions in the league.

Perhaps even more impressive than the record itself though is the fact that the Bruins still have room to extend it. With two more games this week, Tuesday against the Washington Capitals and Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins could eclipse the record previously established by the Red Wings and Lightning.

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Bruins make several moves as Taylor Hall returns to the lineup.

Steve Babineau/NHLI/Getty Images

The Boston Bruins have been without the services of veteran forward Taylor Hall since the month of February, but on Saturday Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery confirmed that the former Hart Trophy winner would make his highly anticipated return to the lineup.

Hall was no doubt excited for the opportunity to play tonight given that the opponent will be the New Jersey Devils. Not only are the Devils playoff bound and fierce competition, but they are also one of Hall’s former teams and that no doubt includes former teammates he is eager to test himself against.

The return of Hall, and by extension the return of his salary to the Bruins cap hit meant that the team also had to make a number of adjustments on Saturday. The team moved both Nick Foligno and Derek Forbort to long term injured reserve retroactive to when they suffered their injuries, shutting both men down for the remainder of the regular season.

The Bruins also sent forward Oskar Steen back down to the American Hockey League on Saturday, after Steen was called up on an emergency basis earlier in the week.

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Boston Bruins can claim a piece of NHL history on Saturday.

Keystone

The Boston Bruins have a chance to share in a piece of National Hockey League history on Saturday when they will face off against the New Jersey Devils, and given the way that things have been trending for the Bruins this season they could even make that piece of NHL history their very own.

The Bruins are coming into Saturday’s game against the Devils with 61 wins in their back pocket already, but a win over the Devils on Saturday would tie the NHL record for most wins in a single season by any team in the league’s history. Only two other teams in the NHL’s history have managed to accomplish this feat before, with the Detroit Red Wings picking up 62 wins during the 1995-1996 regular season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning matching that accomplishment over 2 decades later during the 2018-2019 regular season.

Perhaps what will make the game on Saturday must see TV however is the fact that the Bruins have a very real chance of overtaking both of those historically great teams further down the line. Although the Bruins can tie to the record with a win on Saturday, they have 3 additional games remaining on the schedule with a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday as well as a pair of matchups against the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens next week.

The Bruins will first have to overcome a playoff bound New Jersey Devils squad today to even tie the record, so I doubt very much that they are looking ahead at the possibility of potentially breaking the record just yet.

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Torey Krug roasts former teammate Brad Marchand on Sunday.

Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

The Boston Bruins faced off against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday and that meant that Blues defenseman Torey Krug would be getting a reunion of sorts with his longtime former teammates in Boston.

Krug was of course signed as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State University by the Bruins and spent the first 9 seasons of his career in the National Hockey League with that organization. That being said it would come as a surprise to no one to learn that Krug has forged lifelong friendships with members of the Bruins roster, something that no doubt makes these games against the Bruins both challenging and exhilarating for the veteran defenseman.

Prior to the game on Sunday, Krug was asked if he was forced to temporarily suspend those friendships when facing off against the Bruins, and he took the opportunity to take a hilarious shot at former teammate Brad Marchand.

“That’s right, especially the guy with a big nose,” said Krug of his unfortunate looking friend.

Marchand has of course been ripped throughout his career by fans, opponents and just about everyone else regarding the size of his schnoz, but it’s particularly amusing to hear it from a former teammate that spent nearly a decade playing alongside him.