Boston Bruins Bergeron Returns To Practice, Out vs. Rangers

BRIGHTON, Mass – The Boston Bruins will get some bodies back this week as Patrice Bergeron, Matt Grzelcyk and Urho Vaakanainen all returned to practice on Monday after taking Sunday completely off the ice.

Bergeron skated in a no-contact jersey after missing the last two games with an upper body injury following an awkward with Sidney Crosby that knocked him backwards into the boards, but won’t play on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers. Grzelcyk (upper body) is “probable” to play against the Rangers on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden after missing the last game following a collision into the boards and Vaakanainen (upper body) is “back in the mix” but won’t play Tuesday against the Rangers after taking a nasty head shot from Yanni Gourde just prior to the NHL All-Star break.

While Bergeron will miss his third straight game on Tuesday, the expectation is that he could meet the team on the road and potentially play Thursday night against the New York Islanders.

“He won’t play [on Tuesday] and he won’t travel today, so he’ll probably meet us on the road,” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Gryz is doing better and I’m going to say he’s probably, but let’s get through morning skate [at MSG]. Vaakanainen is back in the mix, but probably won’t play in the game [on Tuesday].”

Bergeron looked healthy zipping around in drills on Tuesday, but the Bruins are obviously taking their time with No. 37 after suffering a nasty laceration to the back of his head after falling backwards into the boards.

Patrice Bergeron down the tunnel pic.twitter.com/KEjm1uDvSO

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 9, 2022

Here are the projected line combos and D-pairings vs. the Rangers with Jeremy Swayman set for his second straight start and Brad Marchand also expected to get his appeal hearing with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday in New York City:

Hall-Haula-Pastrnak

Frederic-Coyle-Smith

DeBrusk-Studnicka-Foligno

Blidh-Nosek-Lazar

Grzelcyk-McAvoy

Reilly-Carlo

Forbort-Clifton

Swayman