Bruins’ Johansson Out With Lung Contusion

NHL teams have had a tough time with their recently acquired players over the past week or two. First it was the Dallas Stars who acquired Mats Zuccarello from the New York Rangers in hopes to pump up their sputtering offense. Zuccarello did just that in his first game with Dallas scoring a goal and adding an assist early on. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken arm late in the second period and will miss several weeks.

Now it’s the Boston Bruins being bitten by the injury bug. The Bruins were playing the Carolina Hurricanes and watched as recently acquired Marcus Johansson went down hard following a tough but legal hit from Micheal Ferland. Johansson stayed on the ice for a considerable length of time but eventually was able to skate off under his own power. He headed to the Boston dressing room and was ruled out for the rest of the game with what was initially described as an ‘upper body injury’.

Given Johansson’s history with concussions there was plenty of concern from Bruins’ fans. Immediately after the game Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy gave this optimistic though vague assessment of the situation:

“I believe he went to the hospital, and we’ll get an update tomorrow. It looks encouraging, but I don’t want to speak out of turn. I think when all the tests are done, we’ll have a better answer.”

The following morning, Cassidy gave a more problematic update indicating that Johansson remained at the hospital undergoing further tests. The optimism returned later that day when the team released the official diagnosis on Johansson. Tests had indicated that he’d suffered a lung contusion but had been discharged from the hospital. At this point, he’s going to be out a week after which his status will be reassessed.

Boston is currently the hottest team in the NHL having earned points in 17 straight games going 13-0-4 during that stretch. Boston hasn’t lost in regulation since January 19th and haven’t lost by more than one goal since January 10th. During this stretch they’ve seen their odds to win the Stanley Cup drop to +1000. The Tampa Bay Lightning remain the favorite to hoist the cup at +400.