BRIGHTON, Mass. — David Krejci has missed the last couple of games with an upper body injury believed to be a back issue, but he may return on Tuesday night ahead of a long NHL All-Star break and bye week for the Boston Bruins.
Krejci made it through Tuesday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena after skating with a no-contact sweater on Monday, and said he was feeling a lot better headed into tonight’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights at TD Garden.
Bruce Cassidy termed Krejci “a game-time decision” after missing the last week of action following the injury suffered in last week’s loss to Columbus on the road.
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It may come down to whether it would be of greater benefit for Krejci to maximize the rest he’s giving himself by taking the full 17 days in between the game he last played and when things start up again in Winnipeg on Friday, Jan. 31.
“I felt good yesterday and I felt good today. I’m pretty happy about that. I’ve got to talk to the [medical staff] and see what’s best” said Krejci. “[The break] couldn’t come at a better time and I’m looking forward to it. But obviously there’s one more game tonight and we’ve got to get that done.
“Obviously I want to play as soon as I can play. The break is for sure going to help, so we’ll see how the conversation [about playing tonight] is going to go.”
Certainly the Bruins could use all hands on deck on Tuesday night with the Tampa Bay Lightning just six points behind the B’s in the Atlantic Division, and a streaking Florida Panthers team also closing to within 10 points in recent days.
In other lineup news, rookie Jeremy Lauzon will be inserted into the lineup in place of John Moore on Boston’s bottom defense pairing given some of the bottom pair struggles as of late. The Bruins will also postpone tonight’s celebration of Jaroslav Halak getting to his 500th career NHL games so as not to distract the backup netminder from his start against the Golden Knights.
Boston Bruins
Here is the Bruins projected line combos and D-pairings against the Golden Knights based on morning skate:
PROJECTED LINES
| Brad Marchand | Patrice Bergeron | David Pastrnak |
| Jake DeBrusk | David Krejci | Anders Bjork |
| Danton Heinen | Charlie Coyle | Karson Kuhlman |
| Joakim Nordstrom | Sean Kuraly | Chris Wagner |
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
| Zdeno Chara | Charlie McAvoy |
| Torey Krug | Brandon Carlo |
| Matt Grzelcyk | Jeremy Lauzon |
STARTING GOALIE
| Jaroslav Halak |