Boston Bruins Injury Update: Cassidy Confirms Miller, Krejci Out Sunday

Add two more players to the list of Boston Bruins that will not play at Lake Tahoe against the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday (7:30 PM ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet, TVA Sports).

Speaking to the media late Saturday afternoon, Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed a Saturday report by FOBHN (Friend Of Boston Hockey Now), Joe McDonald that Boston Bruins center David Krejci (lower-body) and defenseman Kevan Miller (maintenance) did not make the trip to Lake Tahoe. Defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Jakub Zboril have already been ruled out.

The Boston Bruins called up rookie forward Jack Studnicka and rookie defenseman Urho Vaakanainen from the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Friday.

“Miller is not on the trip; neither is Krejci, neither is Grzelcyk, Zboril, or Kase,” the Boston Bruins bench boss confirmed. “Vaakanainen came up to join us, so he’ll go in. Kampfer will be our seventh.”

Cassidy stressed that Miller resting was simply load management with the Bruins not having another game until next Thursday.

Studnicka was slotted between wingers Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork at practice Saturday and that’s where he will likely start the game Sunday night.

“He’ll probably play in the middle with Bjork and DeBrusk,” Cassidy said. “That’s how we practiced today, they looked really good. That would knock ‘Freddy’ [Trent Frederic] down with [Sean] Kuraly and [Chris] Wagner, ‘Bergy’ line would stay together. Obviously with ‘Krech’ out, ‘Pasta’ back up with ‘Bergy’ and ‘Marsh’. Look at that down the road and then that leaves [Nick] Ritchie with [Charlie] Coyle and [Craig] Smith. We liked that in camp as well. So not a lot of difference for Coyle and Smith, the big winger, they’ve had that with ‘Freddy’ there most of the time and now with Ritchie. …guys that can occupy space so we’ll see how the three younger guys do.”

Studnicka has a goal in six games after scoring the Bruins’ first even-strength goal of the season in a 5-4 shootout win over for the Boston Bruins over the Flyers on Jan. 21.

This will be Vaakanainen’s first game of the 2021 season.

Here’s how the Boston Bruins lined up at practice on Saturday:

Forwards:

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jake DeBrusk

Nick Ritchie – Charlie Coyle – Craig Smith

Anders Bjork – Jack Studnicka – Jake DeBrusk

Trent Frederic – Sean Kuraly – Chris Wagner

Defense:

Jeremy Lauzon – Charlie McAvoy

Urho Vaakanainen – Brandon Carlo

John Moore – Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Tuukka Rask

Jaro Halak