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INJURY UPDATE: Boston Bruins Coyle (Upper Body) Out Vs. NY Rangers

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After the Boston Bruins began to find traction with a massive third line that included big bodies at all three forward spots, Charlie Coyle will be forced to miss some time. Coyle is day-to-day with an upper body injury suffered at the tail end of the second period of Tuesday night’s OT loss to Jersey when he was struck with a puck in the arm area.

“[Coyle] is out tonight and we’ll list him as ‘day-to-day’ and see how he is [on Friday],” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “If he participates then obviously Saturday becomes a realistic timetable for him, but we’ll see on that. But he’s definitely not playing tonight.”

Coyle made it out for one shift in the third period and then was done for the night with David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk filling in at right wing on the third line in Coyle’s absence. That was actually the reason behind Pastrnak’s presence on the ice for Sean Kuraly’s goal in the third period that gave the Bruins a brief 3-2 lead and appeared to be when the B’s relaxed before letting the game slip away in the extra session.

The Bruins had just begun cobbling together a power third line of Nick Ritchie, Coyle and Kuraly that could be a physically menacing line in the playoffs and was beginning to generate some palpable offensive chemistry as well. Kuraly is hoping that the Coyle issue isn’t a serious one and that it’s something that won’t interrupt the momentum the third line was building headed into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Man, [Coyle] has been playing some good hockey and it’s been fun to play with him and [Nick Ritchie],” said Kuraly, who has two goals and three points in three games during the month of May. “Losing him definitely puts a kink in it, I guess. You’ve got to mix it up and the three of us were feeling really good together. But we’ve got a lot of good players on this team.

“Jake stepped in there and he did his thing. We’re just hoping Charlie is okay. We think he’ll be fine. But it’s just kind of a bummer to lose a guy like that who has been playing really well.”

Cassidy was hopeful that Coyle might be able to return for Saturday afternoon’s matinee against the Rangers, so it doesn’t sound like the injury is anything serious at this point. It would appear that Jake DeBrusk is going to step in for the absent Coyle on the third line, and Cassidy said rookie Jeremy Swayman will get the starting nod against the Rangers:

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