Bergeron Set to Rejoin Team for Tuesday's Practice

BOSTON - Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is set to rejoin his teammates for practice on Tuesday, general manager Don Sweeney said on Monday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena. The 37-year-old has yet to play in Boston's first-round series against the Florida Panthers after suffering an injury in the regular-season finale on April 13.

"Well, we're fortunate that he'll join us for practice [on Tuesday]," Sweeney said during an off-day press conference. "Then we'll gauge his progression and go from there. As everybody knows, it's day-to-day and we'll see how he is when he integrates into other guys on the ice besides just himself."
Sweeney said that the club is hopeful Bergeron has made adequate progress over the last several days that will allow him to suit up for Wednesday's Game 5 at TD Garden.
"Really goes on the medical advice as to what's best for him. [The medical staff] ruled that they didn't think it would be in his best interest to be available for either one of those games [in Florida] and they took the necessary time," said Sweeney. "But he's been working hard, and we'll see how that progression translates [Tuesday] and go from there."
Boston's GM acknowledged - as coach Jim Montgomery and several of Bergeron's teammates had in recent days - that the captain remained as involved as he could from afar while the team was in Sunrise.
"Anybody that's been around Patrice knows that he does everything with a purpose, and trying to stay as involved and connected, I think, was a big part of it," said Sweeney. "As competitive as he is, I'm sure it was difficult for him to be sitting on the sidelines for these first four games, but he's been working hard to try and get the opportunity and he's probably appreciative of his teammates for getting us to this point. We have a long way to go."
David Krejci, meanwhile, is unlikely to skate on Tuesday as he undergoes further testing after sitting out both games in Florida with an upper-body injury.
"I think we'll have a better idea that he's having further testing done today, we may have an update, but I won't promise you that until the doctors can get back to us," said Sweeney.
With both Bergeron and Krejci out of the lineup, the Bruins have been led both on and off the ice by Brad Marchand, who has taken on even more of a vocal leadership role in their absence, while remaining disciplined in the face of continued agitation from the Panthers.
"Our guys have done a really good job trying to play between the whistles," said Sweeney. "We've been talking about this internally, that we think Brad has done a really good job of taking a leadership role and is an important player for our club on the ice. And now, obviously, with Patrice and David leaving, I think he's assumed a lot of those responsibilities and has done a heck of a job and he has a lot of support in behind it with Nick [Foligno] and even [Dmitry Orlov] who has won the Stanley Cup.
"We have a lot of guys that are trying to do all the things on and off the ice that it takes each day…it's a game-by-game thing trying to play to our standards and how we want to…get to our game."

Wait, There's More

On the biggest adjustments between Games 2 and 3…
Sweeney: "I mean, Jimmy labeled it pretty accurately, we just had catastrophic turnover rates that were far exceeding what we would normally do. We didn't manage the puck in areas that we just need to do a much better job. Give Florida a heck of a lot of credit [Sunday], they played outstanding in the first period and put a lot of pressure on us. We did a better job of limiting those situations and, obviously, Linus [Ullmark] made some really big saves for us."
On the performance of Taylor Hall (4-3-7 in four games) against the Panthers…
Sweeney: "Taylor's played really well and taken advantage of some situational offensive opportunities and finished and feels good about his game. What was really, really good to see was in Game 1, he really played with a lot of detail, he played hard. And he only played the three games coming back from a very significant injury and had been out a long time...but he spoke about getting back to those details. And now it translates into the offensive part of the game that we all know he's very capable of providing…our hockey club needs it, every team needs balanced scoring throughout the playoffs because the top guys get keyed on and everybody else needs to chip in. But he's done a really great job at that."
On Orlov's contributions through four games…
Sweeney: "Oh, there's no question, Orlov's really an all-situational player. As I referenced earlier, he's won the Stanley Cup, he was a shutdown pair in that situation. You can see that he's got versatility to play all over our lineup and tries to play to his standard and to impact that game and he's done a really good job at that."
On the performance of Tyler Bertuzzi (2-4-6) in the first round…
Sweeney: "I mean, we've talked about this as a group that maybe his offensive zone, playmaking ability was a little underrated, but you're never going to know that until he gets in and who he's going to play with and who he's going to complement, and he didn't start out playing with [David Pastrnak] and Krech. Krech goes down and [Pavel] Zacha goes in there, so [Sunday] he slides into a different line and they produce so he's been a really good player for us, with versatility and again providing to the depth I think it's required to have success."
On Pavel Zacha's versatility…
Sweeney: "Oh, I mean it's been huge for us. You lose what for most of the season was your top two centers - albeit we have confidence in all four guys that have played there - but down the stretch we got a taste of what Pavel is capable of doing in the middle of the ice and it's translated in the Playoffs. And that's really good to see because that's the first time he's played that position in the Playoffs and against really good players, and he's really been hard on pucks and closing well and still contributing offensively, so that says a lot about Pav and how comfortable he is at his own game and what he can provide for us."