Boston Bruins
Frederic Exits Win, May Miss Time With Upper Body Injury
While the Boston Bruins had another feel-good win on Monday night, but once again the B’s may have paid a price with an injury. Trent Frederic exited Monday night’s 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena after crashing shoulder-first into the end boards during the second period.
Frederic skated gingerly back to the bench while nursing his left shoulder after getting tripped up by Andrei Vasilevskiy racing for a loose puck, and stayed on the bench for most of the period while trying to fight through it. Frederic had two shots on net and a hit in 11:57 of ice time before not returning to the B’s bench for the third period.
Trent Frederic down the tunnel after this: pic.twitter.com/45HgADsjKh
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) November 22, 2022
Frederic was again missing from the ice for Tuesday’s practice at FLA Live Arena and is being listed as day-to-day at this point by the Black and Gold with what appeared to be a shoulder issue.
“He’s day-to-day. With the great depth we have, I’m leaning toward playing [Craig Smith] anyway. We’ll see how [Frederic] is feeling tomorrow,” said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, who mentioned he had breakfast with Craig Smith on Tuesday morning. “Smith is ready. He’s a pro and his attitude has been great. He’s extremely well-liked by his teammates and he’s a big part of the culture here.”
The 33-year-old Smith has played three games during the month of November while handling injuries and being a healthy scratch, and has just one goal and three points in 10 games this season while shuttling in and out of the lineup.
In other news, Derek Forbort (finger) is lightly practicing with the team but still hasn’t been cleared to shoot the puck as of yet. Here is the projected Boston Bruins lineup for Wednesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers prior to the Thanksgiving holiday:
Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk
Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak
Hall-Coyle-Greer
Foligno-Nosek-Smith
Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Lindholm-Clifton
Stralman-Carlo