BOSTON BRUINS Lose key Players to INJURY in Florida

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Patrice Bergeron did not travel with the Boston Bruins and is out for Games 3 and Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers because of an upper-body injury, but is "likely" for Game 5 of the series, according to coach Jim Montgomery.
The Bruins captain last played in the final game of the regular season, a 5-4 win at the Montreal Canadiens on April 13. The 37-year-old center did not play after the first period in that game.
"Our hindsight is we don't have any reservations about what we did," Montgomery said Friday. "Because we laid it out with where we were in the regular season with four weeks to play. We talked to sports science and then we talked ... [general manager Don Sweeney] and I talked about, if we have a chance to rest people, we're going to rest them. And then we consulted with 'Bergy.'"
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series with a 4-2 win in Game 3 at FLA Live Arena on Friday. Game 4 is Sunday, also at Florida, and Game 5 will be played at Boston on Wednesday.
Bergeron played 78 games this season, including the final two of the regular season. He did not play in three of the final seven games, with all three of those missed games on the road.
"We wanted -- I wanted and Bergy wanted -- the last two games to ramp up to get in a rhythm for the playoffs," Montgomery said. "Life happens, you know? Unfortunately tweaked something in that last game. Even with the hindsight we would still do it exactly the same way.
"That's how it's easy to move forward when you have no regret with what you did because it was a well-thought-out plan."
Later, in French, Montgomery said the injury could have occurred at home as easily as it could have on the ice.
Bergeron, who plays on Boston's top line, had 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) this season. He was third on the Bruins in scoring behind his linemates, forwards David Pastrnak (113 points; 61 goals, 52 assists) and Brad Marchand (67 points; 21 goals, 46 points).
"He's always there for us, no matter what," defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. "I think it's our job to go out there and have his back. He's had us his whole career. We want to make sure we're playing for him no matter what. We'll miss his presence out there. He's still a huge part of it, vocally. We have a lot of leaders in this room who can lead by example and pick up that way."
Boston also played Game 3 without center David Krejci, who was scratched because of an upper-body injury. Krejci has one assist in the series after he had 56 points (16 goals, 40 assists) in 70 regular-season games.