When overtime began during the Boston Bruins’ matchup against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, a prominent skater was missing on the ice.
Torey Krug was on the bench, but he didn’t play in the sudden death overtime in Boston’s eventual 2-1 shootout loss to St. Louis at Enterprise Center. He also didn’t appear in the shootout after taking part in Wednesday’s when the B’s beat the Vegas Golden Knights.
Krug accounted for an assist on Chris Wagner’s second-period goal and averaged 17:31 of ice time, so it was unclear as to why the defenseman wasn’t on the ice. After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy elaborated on Krug’s absence.
“Torey had a little bit of a lower-body injury late in the game,” Cassidy told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley, as seen on “Bruins Overtime Live. “… We didn’t want to take a chance, put him out there if he couldn’t push off. It’s too risky in overtime. So hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’s fine.”
Krug’s injury happened late in the third. Fortunately, he has a few days to rest before Boston’s contest with the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Blues game:
— It was the second straight game the B’s ended in a shootout, and the fifth time in eight contests Boston needed overtime to decide the winner.
— The B’s have a 13-game point streak.
— Tuukka Rask now has a point in his last 15 starts. He’s 12-0-3 during that stretch.
The goalie turned away 28 shots in Saturday’s loss, including some big third-period stops to keep the game tied 1-1.
“It’s too bad we couldn’t score for him in the shootout,” Cassidy said. “It’s been an issue all year … too bad we couldn’t get another one tonight. … But at the end of the day he did his job and played very well.”
— The B’s finished their Western Conference road trip with a 4-0-1 record.
