Patrice Bergeron Update: Bruins Still Hopeful For Game 2 Return

The Bruins got a positive update on Patrice Bergeron, but a return to game action still doesn’t sound imminent.

The Boston captain sat out Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Florida due to some sort of combination of injury and illness. Bergeron was in the building at some point Monday night and even got a chance to speak with the team. The Bruins’ hope was he’d be good to go for Game 2 on Wednesday night after a series-opening win.

That’s still the hope, but Bergeron is questionable for the second game, B’s coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Tuesday. According to Montgomery, Bergeron is feeling better, but he didn’t skate during an optional team workout Tuesday morning.

Bergeron played in the Bruins’ season finale last week at Montreal. He left that game with an upper-body injury, something the team labeled as precautionary. Montgomery also noted Monday an illness had been going through the Bruins’ dressing room.

It’s also not necessarily a huge deal that Bergeron didn’t practice Tuesday. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Sunday that Bergeron will be ready once he’s physically able to go.

“Patrice doesn’t need extra days of practice. If he feels better, he’ll play,” Sweeney told reporters Sunday.

The Bruins weren’t especially sharp in Game 1 against Florida but found a way to win. That’s thanks in part to Pavel Zacha, who filled in and gave the Bruins important minutes in Bergeron’s stead centering the top line with Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk.

Boston knows it must play better moving forward in the series and getting Bergeron back certainly would help, though it sounds like the situation is still rather fluid with information hard to come by.