Bruins place Eriksson on IR, recall Johnson

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 / 3:42 PM

By Aaron Vickers - NHL.com Correspondent / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

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CALGARY -- The Boston Bruins have placed forward Loui Eriksson on injured reserve with a concussion and have recalled Nick Johnson from Providence of the American Hockey League.

Eriksson left the Bruins' game against the Pittsburgh Penguins after being hit by defenseman Brooks Orpik in the opening minute of the first period. Eriksson missed five games earlier this season due to a concussion.

"Some of the guys have texted him and had very limited contact with him right now," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "It's really early in the concussion stage. You don't want too much stimulation and stuff like that. It's been done purposely. I'll reach out to him when my trainers tell me he's starting to turn the corner a little bit and I'll be able to reach out to him which I've done the last time as well."

Johnson will be available for the game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET, TSN).

Forward Daniel Paille practiced with the Bruins on Monday but will not be in the lineup against the Flames.

"It's an undisclosed upper-body injury and no timetable," Julien said. "He's not playing [Tuesday]."

The Bruins already are without Chris Kelly (broken ankle), Adam McQuaid (lower body) and Dougie Hamilton (lower body). Hamilton, whom Julien said is expected to miss 2-4 weeks, was injured in the third period of Boston's 5-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.

Julien said the injuries are just another challenge for his club.

"Every team has to go through these things every once and a while," he said. "The last thing you want to do is feel sorry for yourself. The last thing you want to do is find excuses. If anything I think we've got a lot of young guys that are going to get an opportunity here for more than just one or two games to come in here and show that they can play at this level.

"At the same time it just means our team has to step up their game as a whole and be more conscientious when we don't have all our players and we're going to need the best out of everybody. It's a good challenge for us. In the long run you hope it will help us grow as a group and as a team."

Here is how the Bruins and Flames might line up Wednesday:

FLAMES

Mike Cammalleri - Matt Stajan - Lee Stempniak

Sven Baertschi - Joe Colborne - Jiri Hudler

Lance Bouma - Mikael Backlund - David Jones

Blair Jones - Paul Byron - Brian McGrattan

Chris Butler - Mark Giordano

Kris Russell - TJ Brodie

Shane O'Brien - Ladislav Smid

Reto Berra

Karri Ramo

Scratched: Christopher Breen, Lane MacDermid