Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Offers Discouraging Update On Derek Forbort

The Boston Bruins have 13 games remaining in the season and have been bit by the injury bug.

Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno both are dealing with lower-body injuries, though they did skate Tuesday at Warrior Ice Arena, and Derek Forbort now will be shelved.

The Boston defenseman blocked a shot in the Bruins’ win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday and did not play for the remainder of their road trip. Forbort didn’t practice Tuesday morning, and Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery provided a discouraging update on him.

Per Boston.com’s Conor Ryan, Montgomery revealed the B’s don’t expect Forbort back before the end of the regular season, but the veteran blueliner is not expected to need surgery.

Fortunately for Boston, its defensive corps is deep and has been in a rotation since the NHL trade deadline that has left Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelcyk, Dmitry Orlov and Brandon Carlo as healthy scratches at certain points.

This potentially could open the door for Jakub Zboril to play more games as the Stanley Cup playoffs approach. The young D-man had a strong game in Sunday’s blowout win over the Buffalo Sabres, and Montgomery told reporters after the game that he thought Zboril “was excellent” and that he “looked excited to be back out there.”

The Bruins return to action Tuesday night with a game against the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN.