Bruins’ Bergeron to miss Game 2 with injury

Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.

BOSTON — Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is out for Game 2 against the Florida Panthers with an injury, coach Jim Montgomery announced Wednesday.

Boston has a 1-0 series lead over Florida.

The star center was a game-time decision for Game 1 but didn’t take part in pregame warmups. Montgomery said at the time that Bergeron had been dealing with an illness that swept through the Boston locker room recently. But Bergeron also left the Bruins’ regular-season finale against Montreal with an upper-body injury.

When asked about what will keep Bergeron out of Game 2, Montgomery said, “It’s not illness.”

Bergeron skated by himself before Bruins practice Wednesday morning before Montgomery ruled him out.

“He’s progressing well, so he’s day-by-day, but he’s a ‘no’ for tonight,” the coach said.

Bergeron, 37, had 58 points in 78 games this season. He’s considered the best defensive forward in the NHL, having won the Selke Trophy a record five times.

Center Pavel Zacha replaced Bergeron on the Bruins’ top line with Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk in Game 1. That line was paired against Panthers star Aleksander Barkov, who didn’t record a point or have a shot on goal in their 3-1 loss.

Montgomery said that although no single player can replace his captain, Marchand has stepped up as a vocal leader in Bergeron’s absence.

“It falls on all our shoulders,” Marchand said. “We try to help each other and communicate come playoff time. Emotions are high, and there’s a lot of momentum swings. The more we can control that on the bench, and help each other out, it helps on the ice.”

Behind the scenes, Bergeron has offered advice to teammates such as Zacha on how to handle tough playoff assignments and has been “in the coaches’ room” to share what he’s seen during Game 1, according to Montgomery.

“He’s such a competitor. Obviously, everybody knows he wants to be in,” Montgomery said. “But the great thing about him is his ability to put his own personal feelings aside and still lead our group like he does. That speaks volume about his leadership model. Bergeron is the head of the snake. But there are a lot of pythons underneath him doing the work as well.”

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