The defenseman left Thursday night’s game in the third period with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Charlie McAvoy down the tunnel while trailing in the third period. A sight no Boston Bruins fan wants to see.
That was the reality Thursday at TD Garden as the B’s looked sloppy and sluggish in a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. However, McAvoy’s absence might’ve been the biggest blow of the night.
McAvoy took an elbow to the head from Sabres forward JJ Peterka on a reverse hit in front of the Bruins bench early in the final frame. The alternate captain went down hard, left the game and did not return.
“Upper-body, I don’t have any extent. We’ll have more news for you tomorrow,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I know Charlie was surprised by the hit. I couldn’t tell if it was an elbow or if it was clean, so I haven’t reviewed it.”
There was no call or review on the play during the game.
“It looked like he was just kind of going to put a body on somebody like he usually does,” Brandon Carlo said. “I don’t know if he reversed him a little bit faster than he thought, but yeah, it was definitely a hard collision.”
At the time, Boston was behind 2-1, but a Victor Olofsson wrister off the rush at 11:16 gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead. The shorthanded Bruins were unable to find a way to claw back as they tried to pick up the slack for McAvoy who regularly steps up in such moments.
“He’s our rock back there. He’s such a dominant player, he does so much on the breakout offensively with his physical presence. You lose a guy like him, you can’t replace him,” Brad Marchand said.
McAvoy’s injury comes right after the Bruins placed Derek Forbort on long-term injured reserve Thursday morning with a nagging lower-body injury. Mason Lohrei was called up from AHL Providence in Forbort’s place. Now, Boston is potentially facing a scenario where two of its veteran blueliners are sidelined.
“That’s a gap that’s hard to fill – obviously our best defenseman. In those situations when you’re down by a goal or two, he’s a guy you want on the ice,” Carlo said. “Just like anything, injuries happen, bad games happen and we continue to move forward.”
The Bruins will practice at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Warrior Ice Arena where there’ll be expected updates on McAvoy’s condition.