Forbort Out Vs Wild; Likely Sunday Vs Sabres Too

Boston Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort will not play against the Wild tomorrow afternoon in Minnesota, and likely won’t be in the lineup on Sunday when the Bruins close out their five-game road trip against the Sabres in Buffalo.

The Boston Bruins defenseman left his team’s 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday after blocking a shot mid-way through the second period and did not return.

poor bastard pic.twitter.com/fzyWNwMWwu

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) March 17, 2023

After going a minus 4 in his last two games – maybe his worst two games of the season – Forbort had bounced back nicely on Thursday night. The 31-year-old, 6-foot-4, 208-pound defenseman left with three blocked shots and a hit in 13:09 TOI and 17 shifts. Forbort now has five goals and seven assists in 53 games. With his three blocked shots on Thursday, Forbort now has 88 on the season.

On Friday after an optional practice, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery had nothing new to report on the physical status of Derek Forbort.

“We don’t,” Montgomery replied when asked if there was any update on Forbort’s status. “He went and got another MRI or x-ray today. Burt we don’t have an update.”

With Montgomery now using a blue line rotation since the acquisition of defenseman Dmitry Orlov on Feb. 23, Connor Clifton will slide in for Forbort against the Minnesota Wild. Montgomery also told the media that Jakub Zboril will finally slot into the lineup on Sunday when the Bruins finish off this five-game road trip in Buffalo against the Sabres. That would every likely mean that Forbort will miss that game as well.

‘Cliffy’s going to go in tomorrow, and we’re probably going to get Zboril a game probably Sunday in Buffalo,” Montgomery said.

If Zboril plays, that would be his first game since Feb. 23. The spare part defenseman has appeared in just 15 games and has just one goal.

Forbort and Clifton have been the Bruins third and shutdown pairing for much of the season, but with the current rotation of defenseman Montgomery is using, they have not be penciled in as such just yet for the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.