Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Zdeno Chara have been remarkably consistent this season, and just as importantly, they’ve been incredibly durable. Both finally will have a breather Thursday night in Winnipeg.
The Selke Trophy and Norris Trophy contenders are healthy scratches for the Bruins’ game against the Jets at MTS Centre.
Bergeron, one of the NHL’s hottest players at the moment, has played in all 79 games leading up to Thursday’s game. Not only that, Bergeron played in the Winter Olympics with Team Canada on the way to winning a gold medal. Chara has been in 76 games for the Bruins this season and also played for Slovakia during the Olympics.
Bergeron won’t be the only Boston forward absent in Winnipeg. Chris Kelly also is out, as he’s dealing with back spasms. Kelly played only one shift in the third period Tuesday in Minnesota and didn’t practice with the team Wednesday. He’s day to day, but Bruins coach Claude Julien said Thursday that he’s optimistic Kelly will be ready when the playoffs start next week.
With Bergeron, Kelly and Chara out of the lineup, the Bruins will get Jarome Iginla and Kevan Miller back. Both had missed the previous two games with minor injuries, and both will return against the Jets. The B’s also will insert Ryan Spooner into the mix after he was recalled Wednesday on an emergency basis.
Tuukka Rask also will have the night off, as Chad Johnson is between the pipes for the Bruins.
Here are the rest of the lines and defensive pairs for the Bruins-Jets matchup.
Bruins (53-18-8, 114 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Ryan Spooner — Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille — Carl Soderberg — Loui Eriksson
Jordan Caron — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Andrej Meszaros — Johnny Boychuk
Matt Bartkowski — Kevan Miller
Torey Krug — Dougie Hamilton
Jets (35-35-10, 81 points)
Evander Kane — Bryan Little — Michael Frolik
Eric Tangradi — Olli Jokinen — Blake Wheeler
Eric O’Dell — Jim Slater — Matt Halischuk
Carl Klingberg — Patrice Cormier — Anthony Peluso
Mark Stuart — Jacob Trouba
Tobias Enstrom — Paul Postma
Adam Pardy — Zach Redmond
