Marchand, Bjork ‘nicked up,' not starting Bruins road trip

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BRIGHTON, Mass – It wouldn’t be another week in the Bruins season without new and damaging injuries. Now it's top-6 wingers Brad Marchand and Anders Bjork being left behind as the Bruins embark on a three-game road swing through California.

Marchand and Bjork were both “nicked up” in the Saturday night loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to Bruce Cassidy, and won't be on the team flight to California. Either player could join the team at any point during the road trip should they be ready to go, but neither was feeling good enough to practice with the team on Monday.  

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Neither player had been ruled out for Wednesday night’s tilt against the Anaheim Ducks as of the end of today’s practice, but both Kenny Agostino and Peter Cehlarik have subsequently been called up from the AHL on emergency recall in case Marchand and Bjork can’t go. That’s not exactly encouraging at all for either of their chances to jump back into the Bruins lineup immediately.

“Marchand got nicked up the other day, and Bjork did too. They weren’t on the ice today and they won’t travel today with the team,” said Cassidy. “We’ll see what happens from there.”

Bjork was blasted at center ice by a big Matt Martin hit midway through Saturday night’s game vs. Toronto, and Marchand had a couple of run-ins with hard-hitting forward Leo Komarov during the game as well. Marchand had only been back in the lineup for the two games against Toronto after going through the concussion protocol, according to the team, so there should be a fair amount of concern about another possible head injury following so closely after the previous one.

It could also be the knee issue again cropping up that’s been bothering Marchand over the last few weeks as well, and that would seem to be the best-case scenario for the Bruins when it comes to No. 63 at this point. The slightly good news for the Black and Gold is David Krejci might also return to the B’s lineup during the three road games in California, and the sooner the better for him and the team.

The Bruins could be starting a vital three-game road trip while missing four of their top-6 forwards in Marchand, Krejci, David Backes and Bjork, and that could make for more rough times for a team already riding a current three-game losing streak.

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