Bruins fans held their collective breath when they saw Jake DeBrusk stay down a slowly make his way down the tunnel after a collision with Mattias Ekholm.
Fortunately for Boston, DeBrusk was back on the bench before the first period of Thursday's game came to an end.
"Oh yeah, he's fine," head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the Bruins' 3-2 loss, per the team. "I think most of it was that his wind got knocked out of him. When you're not expecting the hit and it's an accidental collision like that, you don't brace yourself for the hit and it knocks the air out of you. We're lucky it's all it was."
There was no malice behind Ekholm colliding with DeBrusk and putting his stick up at the last minute, but it still was a scary moment for DeBrusk and the Bruins.
With injuries to Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno, the Bruins could ill afford to lose another forward, especially one like DeBrusk whose presence on the power play was sorely missed during his absence with a hand and leg injury sustained during this year's Winter Classic.
DeBrusk was held without a point for the third straight game, but he and the rest of the Bruins will look to get back on track Saturday when they host the Detroit Red Wings for a 1 p.m. ET puck drop.
