Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is questionable for the Bruins’ upcoming two-game road trip before they break for Christmas.
Matt Grzelcyk did not practice on Thursday before the team left for Winnipeg, where they will play the Jets on Friday night (8 p.m. ET, NESN, 985. The Sports Hub). The Bruins then head to Minnesota for a Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub) rematch with the Wild, who beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night at TD Garden. Following practice, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery termed Grzelcyk as day-to-day and could not commit to Grzelcyk playing or not playing in the back-to-back set this weekend.
“He is day to day,” Montgomery told the media. “Not available to practice today. It’s one of those things where it literally could be 24 hours, and he’s feeling like he could play so he’s day to day.”
Grzelcyk took a hard hit in the corner early in the first period of the loss to the Wild on Tuesday night. He left the game but returned in the second period and gutted out what appeared to be an upper-body injury.
The 29-year-old, 5-foot-10, 180-pound defenseman already missed ten games this season after suffering an upper-body injury during the second period of the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime win over the Florida Panthers on Oct. 30. He finally returned to the lineup on Nov. 25 for the Bruins’ 7-4 loss to the New York Rangers. He’s played eleven games since returning and has not registered a point. Grzelcyk has one point in 20 games this season, with that point coming in the form of a goal back on Oct. 26 in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks. He’s now gone 14 games without a point.
Here’s what the lineup looked like at practice on Thursday:
Forwards
Brad Marchand-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic
James van Riemsdyk-Morgan Geekie-Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko-John Beecher-Oskar Steen
Extra: Patrick Brown
Defensemen
Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon-Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalies
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
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