{"id":40211,"date":"2019-01-16T10:49:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=40211"},"modified":"2019-01-16T10:49:40","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:49:40","slug":"multiple-boston-bruins-miss-practice-with-injuries-and-maintenance-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/01\/16\/multiple-boston-bruins-miss-practice-with-injuries-and-maintenance-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple Boston Bruins Miss Practice With Injuries and Maintenance Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Bruins<\/a> Head Coach Bruce Cassidy<\/a><\/strong> said in a Tuesday interview that a few players were taking at least one practice off this week. Cassidy mentioned that and Jake DeBrusk was facing \u201clower-body discomfort\u201d, Chris Wagner<\/a><\/strong> was \u201cunder the weather\u201d and Brad Marchand<\/a><\/strong> and Patrice Bergeron<\/a><\/strong> both took maintenance days. The news from Cassidy is not much of a shock as there have been way too many Bruins injuries this year.<\/p>\n

The part of Cassidy\u2019s press conference that raised a flag was that he was about to say that DeBrusk had an \u201cinjury\u201d but stopped about halfway through and used the word \u201cdiscomfort\u201d instead.<\/p>\n

Injury and Illness<\/h2>\n

Cassidy\u2019s disclosure of DeBrusk\u2019s lower-body issue does not have a timetable and has the potential to be worrisome. DeBrusk has 14 goals and 3 assists in 37 games this season and is a valuable player to the Bruins lineup. He shows this every time he takes a shift. Cassidy changing the description to \u201cdiscomfort\u201d may be a sign that he doesn\u2019t expect him to be out for long, if at all.<\/p>\n

The Bruins expect to know the status of Wagner and DeBrusk well before the 7:30 game against the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>. Illness is not usually a huge worry, as the player is typically out for only a couple of days. So Wagner, if he does not play tonight, would likely be set to play in their game on Thursday at home against the St. Louis Blues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bergeron and the All-Star Game<\/h2>\n

Injuries have been prevalent in the Bruins lineup this year. Patrice Bergeron has already missed over a month of the season with an injured upper-body. It was only recently that Bergeron came back and began taking his regular shifts again. Since his return, Bergeron has five goals and eight assists in 11 games for the Bruins.<\/p>\n

The NHL All-Star game will give Bergeron more time to rest. He did not make the original cut, but when the league announced that he was a candidate for the \u201cLast Man In\u201d, fans actively discouraged each other from voting him in so that he could take the time to fully recover.<\/p>\n

Marchand expected to play<\/h2>\n

A maintenance day for Marchand was a surprise after he seemed to be fine after a game in which he scored a high, glove-side goal and notched an assist for the Bruins in their 3-2 OT loss to the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>. It was said that Marchand would be fine for tonight’s game against the Flyers though.<\/p>\n

Marchand’s 17 goals and 32 assists were not enough to earn him a spot in the All-Star Game. So if he does have something going wrong, he will have those days this year to rest that he did not have a year ago.<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/h2>\n

Although injuries are common, especially for this Bruins team, having four players miss practice the day before a conference game is not a good thing. It appears that each of the Bruins that missed Tuesday’s practice will fine long-term, but we will know for certain later this week.<\/p>\n

As for their next game, Philadelphia is in second to last in the Eastern Conference, but no game is an easy one when it features two rivals.<\/p>\n

Main Image Credit:<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n