Boston Bruins Forbort Out 4-6 Weeks With Middle Finger Injury

Just when it looked like the Boston Bruins were going to have their full complement of defenseman, they will be down another important D-man for the next month due to injury. Derek Forbort will be out 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery on his right middle finger after he injured the hand blocking a shot during Tuesday night’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Per a release from the Boston Bruins, Forbort underwent a successful open reduction and internal fixation surgery on his right middle finger. The procedure was performed by Dr. Matt Leibman at MGB. The expected recovery time is four to six weeks.

Forbort was forced to exit that game in the second period after he was shown flexing his right hand on the Bruin bench following the sequence, and Mike Reilly was pushed back into the Boston Bruins lineup for Thursday night’s game against the New York Rangers. Forbort’s absence leaves a large void on Boston’s penalty kill, their shot-blocking efforts and their physical play around the net in the defensive zone.

The 30-year-old defenseman was easily playing the best hockey of his Boston Bruins career prior to going down with the injury.

“Forbort has been unreal. Since the first day of camp he’s been probably our most consistent and best defensemen day in and day out,” said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery.

Forbort is averaging 20:21 of ice time in the first nine games of the season and led the B’s with 16 blocked shots on the season headed into Tuesday night’s game.

The Boston Bruins still have Brandon Carlo for all those things and Charlie McAvoy will be a big help when he returns in a couple of weeks, but the B’s back end will once again be tested in the next few weeks with Forbort out of the lineup.