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Coach Jim Montgomery didn’t have many details to provide on Justin Brazeau’s upper body injury, but it’s clear that we’re not going to see him in the Bruins’ lineup any time soon.
Montgomery said the big winger returned to Boston to be examined by doctors.
“We’ll have a real good report for you (Friday) on the severity and length, but it’s week-to-week right now,” Montgomery told reporters in Raleigh as the B’s prepared to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
Brazeau was injured on Tuesday when he was hit by the Nashville Predators’ Luke Schenn as he cut through the neutral zone with the puck. He went to the bench holding his right arm close to his side and immediately went to the dressing room, not to return.
It would be a tough break for the 26-year-old Brazeau if he cannot be a part of the B’s playoff. After going undrafted out of the Ontario Hockey League, where he posted 61-52-113 totals his final year with the North Bay Battalion, he was in his fifth season of minor league hockey – with stints in both the AHL and ECHL – when the B’s signed him to his first NHL contract on February 18 and brought him to the big squad.
Primarily playing on the fourth line, Brazeau scored a goal in his NHL debut and had 5-2-7 totals in 19 games while seeing action on the second power-play unit and late-game bump-ups in the lineup. While Pat Maroon continues to work his way into the lineup following February 7 back surgery, Brazeau’s size and touch around the net will be missed….
Jeremy Swayman was slated to go back in net against the Hurricanes on Thursday and, with the way both he and Linus Ullmark have been playing, Montgomery said that he’s very comfortable keeping the rotation going into the playoffs.
“Our schedule right now, if we wanted to go with one (goalie) right now and ride him right now, it’s pretty favorable, because we go every other day and then we have three days off,” said Montgomery. “But it’s the biggest position of strength that we have. So right now, both have won huge games on the road. I look at Sway, he goes and wins in Florida and then he wins in (Washington) and the other guy has been remarkable. We’re just in a great, healthy situation. I don’t see why we would change anything.”
Nothing is set in stone, of course, and Montgomery presumably reserves the right to change his mind. In fact, he said he may switch things up soon. If he maintains the rotation, that would mean Swayman would get both starts against Carolina, Thursday night and then Tuesday at the Garden, with Ullmark getting Saturday’s game against Florida.
“That may be something we may switch so we see both guys against certain opponents,” said Montgomery.
While Swayman came up with big wins against the Panthers and Capitals, Ullmark has been particularly hot since the trade deadline, posting a 4-2 record with a .950 save percentage….
After being scratched in Nashville, Matt Grzelcyk was slated to go back in the lineup on a third pairing with Andrew Peeke. Parker Wotherspoon, scratched in seven of the previous 11 games, was set to draw back in on a pairing with Brandon Carlo. Mason Lohrei and Kevin Shattenkirk were tabbed to be the scratches.
With the Brazeau injury, Jakub Lauko went back in on a fourth line with James van Riemsdyk and center John Beecher.
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