With Game 2 on the way tonight between Boston and Tampa Bay and the Bruins in need of a spark to help them get over Game 1’s 5-2 thumping, there’s one guy that could help bring that. Bruins playoff top scorer Patrice Bergeron, who’s been out since receiving a concussion in Game 4 against Philadelphia, has been skating with the team lately and after Game 1’s disappointment, getting Bergeron back in the lineup would be a huge lift.
Will he play or won’t he? Bruins coach Claude Julien is being coy when asked about that.
“As far as Bergeron was concerned, I think if he’s in you’re going to see him in the warm-up tonight.”
When pressed further about Bergeron, Julien had better things to talk about.
“No. I think we need to move on to other things here. I’ve got nothing else to say about Bergeron right now. If we want to talk about the game, I’m open to that. If not, I think we’re done. “
Well all right then.
While Bergeron’s skated with the team, he hasn’t done anything physical in practice yet. If he’s going to suit up tonight and play, it’d help if he took a few loving bumps from the guys he suits up with first. Having his first contact be against guys that don’t exactly have the most loving care in mind sounds like a poor battle plan.
Tyler Seguin is slated to be back in the lineup again tonight and while he was taking Bergeron’s spot in the lineup in Game 1, he proved himself worthy of playing further and they’ll need to give him a few more minutes of ice time to see what he’s really capable of. Seguin had a goal and an assist in Game 1 and it’s possible they’ll be working him into the game on the power play in Game 2. The Bruins could certainly use the help there.
Getting Bergeron back in would be a huge lift to the team but it would be too risky and foolish to do it before he’s healthy enough to go. After all, a guy with a concussion history coming back too soon after suffering another one doesn’t exactly have a great track record of success and the Bruins don’t need to think back too far in their own history to see proof of that. Just ask Marc Savard about how well that worked for him.