David Krejci Misses Practice With Sore Neck After Being Hit by Falling Glass, Expected to Play in Game 2

by Douglas Flynn on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 2:03PM

BOSTON – David Krejci couldn't dodge the pane of glass that fell on him Thursday night, but coach Claude Julien said that the Bruins did dodge a bullet.

Krejci was hit in the back of the head when a large pane of glass was dislodged and fell on him as the Bruins celebrated on the ice right after Chris Kelly's goal 1:18 into overtime lifted Boston to a 1-0 sudden-death win over the Capitals in Game 1 of the opening-round playoff series Thursday at the Garden.

Krejci was held out of practice on Friday, but is expected to play in Game 2 on Saturday.

"I feel good," Krejci said after the workout at the Garden. "I think I'll play tomorrow."

Julien was even more definite about the top-line center’s availability on Saturday.

"He's fine," Julien said. "The glass fell on him yesterday as everybody saw. He was a little bit stiff around the neck area this morning. He was scheduled to skate, and I talked to the trainer and together we came to terms that it was better if he stayed off and he'll feel even better tomorrow. It was not that hard of a skate today, so we kept him off. But he was scheduled to go on and he's scheduled to play tomorrow. It really is not that big of an issue."

But Julien knows that it could have been a much more serious situation.

"There's always fluke accidents that happen, and it was a fluke accident," Julien said. "It's unfortunate. In a way we're kind of fortunate that it wasn’t worse than what it is. With the weight of that glass, it could have been a lot worse. It could have been a lot more damaging. But like I said he’s fine and we probably dodged a bullet there."

Krejci was stunned by the incident, but relieved to have avoided serious injury.

"I didn't expect that would happen," Krejci said. "So I get up and skate away, and that's about it.

"I have a little sore neck, but other than that I'm good and I'll play tomorrow," Krejci added.

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