As the Boston Bruins were celebrating their first trip to the Conference Final since the 1991-92 season after sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers last night, they were missing a vital cog in their engine that's led them to this point.
Patrice Bergeron was in the locker room getting checked out and was not seen again after early in the third period.
Speaking to the media this morning, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said that Bergeron suffered a mild concussion after this hit from Philadelphia's Claude Giroux:
It also looks like Tyler Seguin will start in Bergeron's place for the start of the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Bergeron's concussion history is well-known and the fact that he may have suffered another is scary news, especially for an organization that's had to deal with the effects of Marc Savard's health in the past year. Two years, Bergeron missed 15 games after colliding with Dennis Seidenberg then of the Carolina Hurricanes.
There's little question that Bergeron's been Boston's offensive Conn Smythe candidate through two rounds. He leads the team in scoring (12 points), hits (30), shots (35), and as dominated in the faceoff dot (64.2-percent). Losing Bergeron for any amount of time would be a blow to their drive to the Stanley Cup, but given the potential circumstances at play here, the Bruins don't want to see what happened with Savard happen to another valuable member of their organization.