CHICAGO – Nathan Horton is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, according to Bruins coach Claude Julien. The right wing suffered the injury during a power play in the first overtime of Game 1 Wednesday night.
Horton was hurt while pushing Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. Horton stopped playing, doubled over, and skated to the bench. He retreated to the dressing room and didn’t return.
Horton had suffered an upper-body injury during a fight with Pittsburgh's Jarome Iginla April 20 and missed the last five regular-season games.
If Horton can’t play in Game 2 Saturday, Jordan Caron would be the most likely candidate to enter the lineup. Caron is one of three available forwards, along with Jay Pandolfo and Carl Soderberg. Caron is a right wing who can battle along the walls and jam in front of the net when he’s playing well.
Tyler Seguin projects to replace Horton on the first line alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci. Seguin took most of those shifts in Game 1 after Horton departed and showed some jump. Seguin nearly set up Kaspars Daugavins for the winner in triple overtime. Seguin also assisted on Patrice Bergeron’s third-period power-play goal.
“He skated. He had some chances,” Julien said. “He’s got speed up there with them. He’s got skill. For him, it’s an opportunity right now. He did a great job. We’ll see where everybody stands here by Saturday.”
* Torey Krug acknowledged coughing up the puck on Dave Bolland’s third-period goal that brought Chicago within 3-2. The Bruins were changing lines when Krug settled the puck. Krug said he saw a stretched-out Daniel Paille and tried to get him the puck. Andrew Shaw picked off Krug’s pass to initiate Bolland’s goal.
“Yes, it was a mistake to throw that puck up the middle,” Julien said. “But if you look back at the play, I don’t think we had a good line change. He didn’t have a ton of options. I think there could be some blame shared on that goal.”
* Neither Julien nor the players are dwelling on the nature of the 4-3 triple-overtime loss. The Bruins are looking ahead to Game 2. “What’s done is done,” Julien said.
* Both teams stayed off the ice today. They are scheduled to practice Friday at United Center.
