Bruins Facing New Challenge Without Forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic

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Oct 21, 2009

Bruins Facing New Challenge Without Forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic After stumbling out of the gate to a 3-4-0 start and — in the eyes of many — underachieving, the Bruins may have to overachieve now as their lineup has sustained two huge blows this week.

On Sunday night, the Bruins placed forward Milan Lucic on long-term injury reserve with a broken right index finger, on which he subsequently had successful surgery.

On Wednesday, the team announced that Marc Savard would join Lucic on the long-term injury reserve with a broken left foot and could be out for four to six weeks.

Savard, the team’s leading scorer with seven points, said he suffered the injury after taking a shot off the foot in the preseason. Savard and the training staff felt he could play on, but yesterday he reaggrevated it in practice, causing him to get X-rays that revealed the break.

"It wasn’t hurting that much," said Savard, who was sporting a protective boot on the injured foot on Wednesday. "I just re-aggravated it yesterday. We took some MRIs and it was broken. The best thing now is to shut it down for a couple weeks here and let it heal."

Savard, an All-Star last season, has led the team in scoring the last three seasons, but as head coach Claude Julien pointed out, there is much more to his game than just the points.

"When he’s on his game, he’s good offensively and good defensively," Julien noted. "That’s why we use him on the penalty kill. He anticipates well and he reads the game pretty well. That’s why he excels when he’s on top of his game. That’s why I’ve always said he’s much more than a point producer when he sets his mind to it."

Savard is the team’s best center and perhaps the Bruins' best all-around player. Lucic is one of their most physical and hard-working players. Both players will be gone for roughly the same time, and the team’s depth will need to come through now.

Fortunately, the Bruins are deep at the center position with the likes of David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Steve Begin. In 2007-08, Krejci filled in admirably for Savard when the center missed the final month with a broken bone in his back (ironically compliments of a Begin hit, who was then playing for Montreal). But Julien knows his team will have to come through together now and not just depend on a certain player or players to fill the void.

"I think you have to lean on everybody when it comes to filling in for Savard," said Julien. "Is David a part of that equation? Absolutely. I think that to say that David Krejci has to replace Savard. … I don’t know that you’d want to do that because first of all David Krejci just has to play like David Krejci. He was injured and got operated on over the course of the summer and has already played seven games, so it’s up to him to find his game. I don’t think he needs to replace Savvy as he just needs to play his game.

"If he plays his game, then that will help us immensely."

Tuesday night, the team acquired forward Daniel Paille from the Sabres, and the newest Bruin knows he will be thrown right into the fire.

"I know I’m going to have to fit in quickly here and learn their system on the go, but I’m ready to help in any way I can," Paille said. "If that means playing on a top line or a checking line, so be it. I’ll kill penalties, whatever they want, I’m here to help."

The same can be said for Vladimir Sobotka and rookie Brad Marchand who will play his first NHL game tonight.

"I’m ready for anything and you always have to be," said Marchand, who knows he will be counted on even more now. "Vladdy has experience and luckily, I’m used to the system here because we play the same system pretty much in Providence."

This season just seems to keep getting worse for a team that many picked to contend for the Stanley Cup, but as Julien told the media, there’s no time to dwell on the slow start and bad breaks.

"There’s no doubt we’ve been through this before in the past," said Julien. "Right now it’s about meeting the challenge that’s ahead of us. There are a couple of players who usually have pretty good impacts on our game who are out of our lineup. I don’t think anyone is going to feel sorry for us around the league. I don’t think there’s any reason for us to feel sorry for ourselves. It’s more about rolling up our sleeves and getting ready to take this challenge head on."

That challenge begins Wednesday night.

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