BOSTON — The Bruins had to play the final two periods of their 5-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday without Pavel Zacha after he suffered an upper-body injury. That meant distributing his minutes among the other forwards — most taking on a larger role in his absence.
Charlie Coyle logged 20:17 of ice time, Trent Frederic had 15:13 and Morgan Geekie played 17:31. All three players were more than up to the task when called upon because they know when someone of Zacha’s caliber goes down, it’s next man up.
“If you got a good group, everyone’s gonna step up, everyone’s gonna play more minutes,” Geekie said after the game. “I’m just trying to go out there and do my job and fit in anywhere I can. We had guys playing all over the place tonight. That’s just how it’s gonna be some days. You gotta figure out ways to win in this league and that’s what we did tonight.”
BET ANYTHINGGET $250 BONUSESPN BET
21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
Coyle acknowledged Zacha is a “hard guy to replace.” He’s a top-line center averaging 18:50 of ice time. And when you lose someone after only one period of play, it’s up to the players to respond. That’s what the Bruins did, as well as take “a little more responsibly.”
“You have to be on guard and bring more focus because the lines are going to be kind of shuffled around. You don’t really know who’s going with you,” Coyle said. “So you’ve gotta make sure when your name is called or if you’re going, there’s gonna be a lot of talking on the bench, a lot of talking on the ice. Everyone takes a little more ownership when someone goes down, especially someone of the caliber like Pavel Zacha. It’s a hard guy to replace, but we can do it throughout the lineup and I’d say we did a pretty good job for the most part.”
It’s unclear when Zacha suffered his injury, or what the extent of it is. Coach Jim Montgomery didn’t have an update after the game and said he’d know more Monday.
Zacha’s injury is just the latest for the Bruins. Derek Forbort was placed on long-term injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment, while Charlie McAvoy is day-to-day, though he’s made improvements and hasn’t been ruled out of Wednesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils.
- All betting sites in MA will have promo codes for signing up. Don’t forget to check out BetMGM Massachusetts and DraftKings Massachusetts.
