Montgomery On Brazeau: ‘Week To Week For Now’

Boston Bruins winger Justin Brazeau could be out of the lineup for awhile after suffering an upper-body injury in his team’s 3-o win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.

Brazeau left the game early after a mid-ice collision with Nashville Predators defenseman Luke Schenn early in the second period. Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery had no update after the game on Tuesday night. However, following his team’s game-day skate ahead of the Bruins’ game against the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thursday night, Montgomery delivered some not-so-promising news on Justin Brazeau.

“Brazeau flew home yesterday and seeing the doctors today,” Montgomery told the media at PNC Arena on Thursday morning. “We’ll have a real good report for you (Friday) on the severity and length, but it’s week-to-week right now.”

Hard to tell exactly where he's hurting, but losing Brazeau right now would be a significant loss for the Bruins https://t.co/RE4j1qQ69J pic.twitter.com/Jgttrktozg

— Bear With Me (@BearWithMe_Pod) April 3, 2024

The 26-year-old, 6-foot-5, 220-pound winger has become an instant fan favorite, with the Bruins faithful scoring five goals and two assists in his first 19 NHL games, including a goal in his first-ever game in the league back on Feb. 19 against the Dallas Stars. Brazeau now has five goals and two assists in 19 games with the Boston Bruins.

Despite scoring 61 goals and adding 52 assists in 68 games in his final season with the North Bay Batallion, Brazeau was never drafted. He toiled in the ECHL and AHL, playing 75 games in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers (57 games) and the Maine Mariners (18 games) in the ECHL and then the Toronto Marlies (22 games) and Providence Bruins (167 games) before being called up by the Boston Bruins this season. At the time of his call-up to the Bruins and the NHL in February, Brazeau had 18 goals and 19 assists in 49 games.

With Brazeau out of the lineup Thursday night, winger Jakub Lauko will draw back into the lineup. On the back end, defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Parker Wotherspoon will draw in for Mason Lohrei and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Here’s what the lineup should look like on Thursday night:

Forwards

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk

Danton Heinen – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – Morgan Geekie – Trent Frederic

John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Jakub Lauko

Defensemen

Hampus Lindholm – Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo

Parker Wotherspoon – Andrew Peeke

Goalies

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark