Marchand Misses Practice After Leaving Game 3 Early

Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand was not on the ice at practice on Saturday morning after leaving Game 3 in the second intermission and not returning.

Early in the first period of his team’s 6-2 loss on Friday night, Marchand braced for a collision with Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett and got the worst of it. Marchand appeared to take the butt-end of Bennett’s stick as the Panthers forward followed through on the hit. He fell to the ice hard and, thankfully, in front of the Bruins’ bench because he was shaken up and needed help to get to the bench.

Man, shame we didn’t pick up a sucker punch. Let’s hope Marchand isn’t dealing with a concussion. Would be a shame to have missed something like this in a highly scrutinized game @NHLPlayerSafety @RearAdBsBlog @MikeGrinnell_ pic.twitter.com/mbbhWtoNtF

— TD, Esq. (@to_do_82) May 11, 2024

Brad Marchand missed a couple of shifts but returned and tried to battle through whatever the injury was that he suffered in the collision with Bennett. After playing 10:51, 15 shifts, and registering four hits but no points, Marchand was done after two periods of play.

UPDATE: Brad Marchand (upper-body) is unlikely to return to tonight's game.

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 11, 2024

There was some good news from practice, though, on Saturday as winger Danton Heinen took regular line shifts on the left wing of the third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic. Heinen has been out of the Boston Bruins lineup since leaving Game 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs early with what is still termed an ‘undisclosed injury.’

With Marchand out of the lineup and Heinen back at practice on Saturday, that meant that the forward lines were thrown into a blender again. Here’s what they looked like:

Forwards

Jake DeBrusk – Morgan Geekie – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – Pavel Zacha – Justin Brazeau

Danton Heinen – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic

Jakub Lauko – John Beecher – Pat Maroon

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort – Andrew Peeke

Goalies

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark