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Milan Lucic’s Broken Toe Just One of Many Injuries Bruins Battled Through on Way to Cup Win

BOSTON — Nathan Horton was the only Bruin who started the postseason and was unable to finish Boston's Cup run, but there were plenty of Bruins battered and bruised from four rounds of intense playoff action.

The concussion suffered by Horton, who had already been playing through the pain of a separated shoulder, was the most serious injury the Bruins suffered, but it was far from the only one.

Milan Lucic played with a broken big toe on his right foot after taking a Tyler Seguin slap shot off the foot in practice between the first and second game of the Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay.

"Against Tampa, just before Game 2 in practice Seguin hit me in the toe with a slap shot, so I had a broken toe for the last 13 games, which sucked," Lucic said at Sunday's breakup day at the Garden. "It really, really sucked. You don't realize how much you actually push off it until you break it. I don't know if you guys saw me limping, but I was limping a little bit. I definitely had to deal with that, which was pretty tough, especially in that Tampa series."

Lucic also played through a sinus infection at the start of the postseason.

"The last five games of the season and into that first round of the playoffs, I had a sinus infection that I was dealing with," Lucic said. "It always felt like I had a cloud in my head and you know, I was really restless, because I wasn't getting good sleep and whatnot and that goes a lot with my nose getting broken. So I'm looking forward to finally getting it fixed here."

Lucic didn't miss a game, and doesn't think there's much that could get him out of the lineup in the postseason.

"I think if you broke my leg I still would have tried to do it and get out there," Lucic said.

Despite all that, Lucic still felt fortunate after missing much of the previous season with finger and ankle injuries.

"After going through what I went through last year, only being able to play in 63 games and this year playing 111, including preseason, is awesome after going through what I went through last year," said Lucic, who added that he won't need surgery, just some time to rest to heal his broken toe.

Rest is also what Zdeno Chara needs after accumulating an assortment of minor injuries over the course of the postseason. He didn't go into detail about the various ailments, noting that everyone is banged up this time of year.  

"I think we all had bumps and bruises and obviously I was one of them," Chara said. "It's something that you do. At that point of the season and playoffs you do whatever it takes, whatever you can to play. It wasn't anything major, but there were a number of things that made it challenging and more difficult. I'm just glad it was all worth it."

One ailment did sideline Chara briefly, as he was forced to miss the second game of the opening round against Montreal after being hospitalized with dehydration. On Sunday, he revealed more of the cause of that dehydration.

"There was some kind of a virus and a bacteria infection," Chara said. "It just happened that it got the best of me. I was so thankful to the guys for carrying me on for the next few games. … It was quite hard to miss Game 2 [against Montreal], but there was no way I would have been able to finish the game."

Fellow defenseman Adam McQuaid also played through some injuries, but refused to complain.

"There's a few bumps and bruises," McQuaid said. "Nothing too serious that would be more than anyone else."

McQuaid did have one potentially serious injury when he slammed headfirst into the boards after missing a check against Philadelphia in the second round. He missed the final two games of that series, but returned in the next round and played the rest of the postseason.

"I mean there were times that it was stiff and sore, but that was the least of our worries," said McQuaid, who added he didn't expect any lasting effects from the sprained neck he suffered.

McQuaid may have been in worse shape on Sunday than he was after Wednesday's Game 7 win, as he could barely speak after yelling so much at Saturday's parade and was also sporting a nasty sunburn from the day on the duck boat.

But like the rest of the bumps and bruises accumulated over the last few months, those minor irritations were a small price to pay for getting a chance to raise the Stanley Cup.