Milan Lucic is expected to be in the Boston Bruins lineup when they face their heated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, on Saturday, according to multiple reports.
At the end of overtime Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Lucic was dropped with one punch from Dalton Prout. The incident was immediately controversial because Lucic didn’t have both gloves off when the altercation hit its peak. Prout dropped his right away, waited and then threw the heavy right that sent the Bruins’ power forward to the ice.
Lucic was down for only a second. He got up, threw a punch of his own as the linesmen intervened and threw his other glove at Prout.
From what I hear Milan Lucic will play for the #NHLBruins tonight vs. the #Habs
— Dhiren Mahiban (@dcmahiban) November 22, 2014
Bruins players didn't like Dalton Prout punch to Milan Lucic who didn't drop his glove. Lucic will be in warm-up and should play tonight.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) November 22, 2014
There were conflicting beliefs on whether it was a fair fight or not. Prout believed it was, saying from his perspective the two were engaged in a fight.
Gagne told French media that Jackets' Prout gave Lucic a cheap shot at the end of Friday's game. Gagne also indicated that 17 will play 2nt.
— Joe McDonald (@JoeyMacHockey) November 22, 2014
According to Joe McDonald of ESPN Boston, Brad Marchand and David Krejci will not play for Boston.
According to the club’s roster online, Marchand has been placed on injured reserve.
Chris Kelly was also not in the lineup for the Bruins. According to the club, it is injury-related.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know. I could say day-to-day, but we don’t know, we don’t know right now,” said head coach Claude Julien, as per CSNNE.com. “Our medical staff has not given me any indication of how long the injury is going to take. It’s one of those that I think they’ve got to feel as the days go by.”
The Bruins announced they had recalled Jordan Caron and Matt Lindblad from the American Hockey League on Saturday.