Knocked out

I believe I said in this space back in January when the Bruins were just about to start their 10 game winless streak (I refuse to call it a losing streak - if not for the shootouts there would have been 3 ties in those 10 games - of course if not for the shootout there would have been 4 ties and it would have been a 14 game winless streak - but I digress), that they would make the playoffs. Well that chance took a serious blow (no pun intended) when Marc Savard left the ice on a stretcher with a concussion during the third period yesterday on a dirty hit by Matt Cooke (for which he received no penalty by the way).

By league mandate Savard must sit out at least one week following a concussion diagnosis (good policy by the way as sometimes the worst concussion symptoms can take a day or two to fully manifest). This translates to three games on the Bruins schedule and important road games too. Toronto on Tuesday (important because we need Toronto to have as few points as possible at the end of the year for their pick), Philly on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday (two teams the Bruins are fighting with for playoff positioning). As Andy Brickley often says during NESN broadcasts, points are at a premium at this time of year and the injury to Savard could not have come at a worse time. Without him in the line-up for what Claude Julien said could be "a while" (which turned out to be the whole season for Patrice Bergeron a couple years ago), the Bruins are looking at an early off-season this year.