TORONTOThe Bruins won a game, but might have lost another regular member of their lineup.
Benoit Pouliot was done after two shifts and 1:43 of ice time in the second period with a lower body injury in Bostons 5-4 victory over the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. Pouliot assisted on a pair of goals and finished a plus-2 despite only 4:50 of ice time in the Tuesday night victory over the Leafs, and a host of Bs skaters including Shawn Thornton, Gregory Campbell and Lane MacDermid took turns filling in for Pouliot once he was finished for the night.
They pulled him out and said it was more a precautionary thing than anything else because it could have gotten worse, said Julien. Its a lower body injury. I dont know how serious it is. We may see him in the next game. Well evaluate him tomorrow and have more on it.
"I dont want to push guys through injuries. Weve got enough guys with injuries right now. Were going to play it safe with Pouliot.
Julien did indicate that the injury wasnt expected to be serious for Pouliot, but anything is a concern when the Bruins are already without a host of wingers including Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley, Daniel Paille and now Pouliot as well.
We need a lot of guys to step up right now. You talk about Horton, you talk about Peverley and now Paille is out. Pouliot didnt finish the game tonight and Andrew Ference is back home. Obviously Tuukka Rask too, said Julien. We just need our team to really grind it out and understand that we may not have our full squad from here on in.
It may be a challenge to win every game moving forward, but those are the kinds of things that build character. Im hoping we can embrace that challenge.
The Bruins might have to call another player up if Pouliot is unavailable for Bostons next home game on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres.
Its a case of bad timing for Pouliot, who has three points in his last two games and appears to have created some good line mojo with Jordan Caron and Chris Kelly after a long, dry spell.