Bergeron & Stuart Return, Three Go Down

The Bruins finally got Patrice Bergeron and Mark Stuart back from injury, but had three players more go down with injuries during road trip.

The Bruins finally got pivot Patrice Bergeron back after a long two weeks without the him. and The Bruins are still without 1st line center Marc Savard. Savvy will be out until the Olympic break it appears now. It seems the Black and Gold just can’t seem to catch a break this season with injuries. The Quebec native  was not supposed to take any face-offs Monday versus the Senators because he was still feeling pain in his thumb. He did take a few though anyways Bergeron said “I wasn’t supposed to, but I did anyways.”

If Bergeron is too sore to take a face-off then is he really healthy enough to play? As much as the Bruins want Bergy back, rushing him back is not the solution for the Big and Bad. If he ends up hurting his thumb worse it would leave the Bruins season on the brink of destruction.  Bergeron told the Boston Herald that, “It’s sore. I know it’s there, but it’s not something that’s not going to get worse. It’s just a matter of playing through it and feeling better. We are going to work on some different stuff for a splint for the next game, and practicing with the team will help.”

Hopefully Bergeron is right that the injury cannot get any worse. If the injury got worse it would not only leave Bergeron off Team Canada, but also could also kill the Bruins playoff push. If the Bruins can’t get healthy soon they could easily be fighting for 8^th place in the Eastern Conference very soon.

Mark Stuart returned to the Bruins line-up Saturday, when the Bruins were finishing their west coast trip in LA versus UMass Alumni Jonathan Quick and the LA Kings. Quick stoned the Bruins in the shootout and grabbed the win. Despite grabbing a two goal the Black and Gold could not hold on. Michael Ryder scored 2 goals about 13 seconds apart to take a 3-1 lead in the second. The Bruins could not hold a 3rd period lead for the 2nd time on the road trip.

Mark Stuart was paired up with Johnny Boychuk for the past two games. It is an interesting D-pair with a guy like Boychuk who can hit over a 100mph with his slapper. Stuart and Boychuk are also very strong hitters which could make them hard to play against, which is something Peter Chiarelli has been trying to focus on here in Boston. What seemed to be the biggest problem for the pair though was breaking the puck out of their own end. Neither Stuart nor Boychuk are known as puck moving defensemen. As great as they might be to watch them knock the opponent over it is hard to try and watch them break the puck out.

The Bruins lost Marco Sturm, Byron Bitz, and Steve Begin during the West Coast road trip. Bitz and Begin who have been the Bruin 4^th line grinders for much of the season have undisclosed injuries. Both are questionable for Thursday’s match-up with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Marco Sturm suffered a leg injury versus his former team the San Jose Sharks is also questionable for Thursday.

Steve Mason is expected to be in goal for the Blue Jackets Thursday. After winning the Calder Trophy last season he seems to have been diagnosed with the Andrew Raycroft syndrome. Bruins fans remember his excellent rookie season where the Razor won the Calder Trophy, but then after was never able to repeat that kind of season. He lost the starting job in Boston to the likes of Tim Thomas and Hannu Toivonen. That Tim Thomas was not the same Tim Thomas who won the Vezina last season. Tim Thomas had yet to develop into an All-star goalie at that point. Mason was a Vezina finalist last season, as he was one of the top goalies in the game last season. This year he holds a Goals Against Average of 3.33 and a SV% of .889. Mason has fallen off so a wounded Bruins team should be able to take advantage of that, or at least Claude Julien hopes.