BOSTON -- Boston Bruins forwards Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic will not play against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday at TD Garden, according to Bruins coach Claude Julien.
Julien would not elaborate on the nature of either player's injury but he classified each as day-to-day. Neither player practiced Sunday. They were injured in a 6-2 road loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Bergeron, who scored in the first period Saturday but did not play the final 13:14 of the third, leads the Bruins with 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists). Lucic has six goals and 17 points.
With Bergeron out, center David Krejci skated with Bergeron's usual linemates, Brad Marchand and Reilly Smith, during the morning skate.
"Yeah, I think I've played with probably every other forward except for [Krejci]," Smith said. "So you know he's a talented player and he creates a lot of space. So it should be fun."
The Bruins have gone long stretches of the season without some of their best players, including Krejci and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug. But Lucic and Bergeron had played in all 36 games.
"I think it's a good test for us and we have to get back to playing as a team, and if you lose a couple individuals, no matter how skilled they are, you still have to win as a team," Smith said. "So that's definitely the focus tonight."
The Bruins had an intense 45-minute practice that focused on execution and assertiveness Sunday. Boston has won four times in its past 10 games (4-4-2).
"Yeah, commitment. That's the area [that needs the most improvement]," Julien said. "I think commitment. There's a couple things. We need to be a little bit harder, we need to be more committed and just do the things that we need to do to win hockey games. It's not so much one area where we're weak, it's just our game as a whole needs a little bit more. We need to be hungrier and a little bit harder."
The Red Wings have won their past two games, including an overtime victory on the road against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Detroit coach Mike Babcock is confident it won't take the banged-up Bruins lightly.
"I don't think that changes a whole bunch with us," Babcock said. "We understand they're not happy because they didn't play as good as they wanted to last game. It didn't go as good. Any team that gets beat, they want to respond, no different than if we lost. So we understand where we're at and who we're playing."
Here are the projected lineups:
RED WINGS
Henrik Zetterberg – Pavel Datsyuk – Justin Abdelkader
Tomas Tatar – Riley Sheahan – Tomas Jurco
Johan Franzen – Darren Helm – Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller – Luke Glendening – Stephen Weiss
Jonathan Ericsson – Niklas Kronwall
Injured: Jakub Kindl (elbow), Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)
Scratched: Daniel Cleary, Joakim Andersson
BRUINS
Brad Marchand – David Krejci – Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Jordan Caron
Matt Lindblad – Craig Cunningham – Seth Griffith
Matt Bartkowski – Dennis Seidenberg
Injured: Adam McQuaid (thumb), Patrice Bergeron (undisclosed), Milan Lucic (undisclosed)
Scratched: Zach Trotman
Status update: Lashoff is likley to be in the lineup after five straight healthy scratches. ... The Bruins lost forward Matt Fraser on waivers to the Edmonton Oilers. Lindblad was recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League to replace Fraser. Caron was called up Sunday.
Who's hot: Zetterberg has three goals and three assists during a four-game point streak. ... Kelly has points in five of his past six games, with one goal and five assists during that span.