Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk suffered a broken orbital bone when struck by a slap shot yesterday against the Canucks. He will be out until after the Olympic break, but it could have been a lot worse.

“He’s got a fracture of the orbital bone, but no displacement, so no surgery required,” coach Claude Julien revealed during his pre-game press briefing this afternoon in Montreal. “His eye is fine. He’s been checked and basically it’s an injury that would keep him out for 7-10 days, so we won’t see him back until after the Olympic break.”

That puts Boychuk on track to return when the Bruins begin their post-Olympic schedule March 2 against Montreal at the Garden. If not for the extended break for the Olympic Games, Boychuk would be able to return even earlier, but the extra time to heal is certainly not a bad thing with how close the rookie defenseman came to a potential career-ending injury.

“(He was) very lucky,” said Julien. “Our doctors were talking about a quarter of an inch the other way could have made it much, much worse. With that shot, you’ve got to consider yourself lucky.”

Boychuk was hit just above the eye by a Mikael Samuelsson slap shot in the first period of yesterday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Vancouver. Boychuk was battling for position in front of the net when Samuelsson launched a shot from the left point. Boychuk was down for several minutes, bleeding heavily while being treated by the Bruins training staff. He was helped off the ice by teammates Zdeno Chara and Blake Wheeler and transported to Mass General Hospital.

Andrew Ference replaced Boychuk in the lineup this afternoon in Montreal. Ference is making his return after missing the last 14 games with a groin injury.

Tags: Boychuk, Ference

posted: Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 3:01 pm / Bruins News /
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