For the second consecutive sport, the Boston Bruins might be with out captain Brad Marchand, who’s coping with an upper-body harm. This time, the Bruins might be going through elimination in Sport 5 in opposition to the Florida Panthers.

Marchand was injured throughout Sport 3, when he took a controversial hit from Panthers ahead Sam Bennett. Marchand did not play the third interval of that sport, and he missed all of Sport 4 — a 3rd consecutive loss for Boston.

Throughout his press convention on Tuesday, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery mentioned that Marchand is “not an choice tonight.” With Marchand out, Montgomery thinks the possibility to increase the season and provides their captain a shot to return will give the gamers some added juice.

“I believe our focus is on our construction, our execution and on the point of win Sport 5,” Montgomery mentioned. “Now, giving him a chance is additional motivation, sure.”

With out Marchand, Sport 4 did not go effectively for Boston. Regardless of taking a 2-0 lead within the first interval, the Bruins’ offense was anemic for a lot of the sport. Boston managed simply 18 photographs on purpose, and solely two of these got here within the third interval as Florida surged from behind for a 3-2 win and a 3-1 sequence lead.

Within the common season, Marchand tallied 29 targets and 38 assists in 82 video games, and he has 10 factors in 10 video games this postseason. That manufacturing might be sorely missed once more in Sport 5, and staving off elimination simply received a lot tougher.