Earlier today we’d heard a bit about how banged up the Vancouver Canucks were through the Stanley Cup finals. Their list of skating wounded may have had a negative effect on how their season turned out, Boston managed to avoid trouble with the injury bug.
While the Bruins had to do without Nathan Horton from early in Game 3 through until the end of the series with a concussion and Marc Savard after he played just 25 games this season before getting another concussion of his own, the Bruins had little in the way of injuries elsewhere. ESPN Boston’s Joe McDonald finds out that forwards Milan Lucic and David Krejci had nagging injuries of their own that slightly hampered their games.
McDonald reports that Lucic had a severe toe injury and Krejci was dealing with a nagging shoulder injury that he suffered in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Krejci said, however, that the injury improved through the rest of the playoffs and it affected his play less and less until the end. Considering that Krejci finished the playoffs as the top scorer in the postseason, we’re a bit worried what we could’ve seen out of him fully healthy.
Fighting off injuries is a matter of virtual luck in the playoffs and the great shape the Bruins were in in the end of things proved how important it was for them to stay healthy. Not having to dig deep into your bench to fill holes, like how Vancouver had to, may have ultimately helped decide the series. It’s a marathon to the finish when trying to win the Stanley Cup and the Bruins ability to stay healthy and keep it together as a team won out in the end.