Zboril Leaves Bruins-Preds Game With Leg Injury

Boston Bruins defenseman Jakub Zboril had to be helped off the ice 4:36 into the second period with the Bruins up 2-0 on the Nashville Predators Thursday. Zboril appeared to jam and twist his right knee awkwardly as he was hit into the boards by Predators winger Tanner Jeannot. When Zboril’s teammates escorted him to the bench, he couldn’t even put weight on his injured right leg. He did not return.

Jakub Zboril had to be helped to the dressing room after this hit: pic.twitter.com/5CujIXnFHT

— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) December 3, 2021

As of the ten-minute mark of the second period, the Boston Bruins had not announced any updates of Zboril but based on the looks of that injury, it didn’t look good for him returning to the game and potentially for more games going forward. If that’s the case, this will be a huge loss for the Boston Bruins because the 2015 13th pick overall was arguably playing the best hockey of his young career.

After watching the first five games of the season as a healthy scratch, this was Zboril’s ninth straight game in the lineup and he really seemed to be finding his niche playing on the third pairing with Mike Reilly. Heading into the game Thursday, Zboril had three assists in nine games and hadn’t registered a point in his last three games but he was playing a steady two-way game and becoming more comfortable in terms of when to jump into the play.

“I think he’s understanding what it takes to play in this league,” Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said recently when discussing Zboril. “Like a lot of guys, it takes a while. We went through it with [Matt Grzelcyk] for a while there. He’d go back down and then come up, and he finally found what he would be good at. “I just think he’s playing to his strengths. He’s handling the puck, making good plays, moving his feet, [and] shooting a little bit more. All stuff we’ve asked him to do and sometimes it just takes a while for the player to get confident and feel like the coaches and teammates trust him.”