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Unlucky Loui: Eriksson misses B’s practice for dental repairs

LouiEriksson

To say Loui Eriksson’s had a tough go in his first season with Boston is putting it lightly.

The Swedish forward missed Friday practice to receive dental work, the byproduct of a Maxim Lapierre high stick during Thursday night’s win over the Blues. Eriksson suffered “bashed in” teeth, according to B’s head coach and aspiring orthodontist Claude Julien.

“The linesman saw it, and the rule is that the linesman can call it if there’s a high stick with blood,” Julien told CSN New England. “We thought it was going to get called because he’d seen it. Technically, we thought [the goal] wouldn’t count, and it could be taken back. But that whistle needed to be blown right away, and it wasn’t.

“So they can’t take it back, and we have a player with some teeth bashed in. He had quite a few stitches in his mouth. This guy has already been through a lot for us...poor Loui. Nothing is getting called against him, and he’s just taking his lumps. It was a little disappointing.”

It was the latest in a number of blows taken by Eriksson this year. The first was an elbow to the head from Buffalo tough guy John Scott in November, one that concussed Eriksson and sidelined him for five games. Roughly one month later, Eriksson was concussed again on a big hit from Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik, and missed 15 more games.

As such, the 28-year-old’s had a very up-and-down campaign. He has just 18 points through 36 contests, but is hoping to turn things around with a strong showing for the Swedes at the Olympics, and one final game for the B’s before the break.

“Loui’s doing OK. The only reason he missed is he’s obviously getting some dental work done and making sure he’s all fixed up before tomorrow and before he leaves for the Olympics,” said Julien. “He should be in the lineup tomorrow [versus Ottawa]; there’s no reason why he shouldn’t.”