Fighting for their playoff lives, the New Jersey Devils will be without another key contributor on Friday.
Captain Bryce Salvador will miss tonight’s game against the Senators with a wrist injury, according to Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record. He’ll join Ilya Kovalchuk (shoulder) and Johan Hedberg (back) on the shelf.
Salvador, 37, was injured during Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Bruins after blocking a Zdeno Chara slapshot. The veteran defenseman ended up logging just 6:15 of ice time and doesn’t appear to be feeling much better after a day of rest.
“Not good enough to play,” was how Devs head coach Peter DeBoer described Salvador’s wrist.
Salvador has had a rough season after signing a three-year, $9.5 million extension with New Jersey during the summer. He has just two points through 39 games and is an ugly minus-12, but does sit third on the time in ice time (21:20 per game)
The Devils, meanwhile, have lost eight straight and are in serious danger of not making the playoffs, this after getting to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago. They currently sit 10th in the East with 40 points, four back of the eighth-place Rangers.
The last team to make the Cup finals and fail to make the playoffs the following season was the 2006-07 Edmonton Oilers.