It wasn't nearly as scary as the last time Patrice Bergeron left the ice with an injury, but the Boston Bruins forward was forced to leave with 11:32 left in the second period of Saturday's 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes due to what appeared to be a head or neck injury.

"The doctors have been looking at it," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "They haven't given us any indication as far as the severity of it. Obviously, he went down a little dazed. We're not able to give you a verdict. That's all I can tell you about that situation."
   
The injury occurred when Bergeron went down face-first on the ice after finishing a check on Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. Bergeron -- who has 18 points (4 goals, 14 assists) in 30 games -- was down and attended to for several minutes before looking wobbly when he got to his skates.
   
Julien said he spoke with Bergeron during the second intermission and that his forward was alert.
   
“He got dinged pretty good,” the coach said. “He was speaking to me and then I took off and coached the third period.”
   
Bergeron missed most of last season after suffering a concussion on Oct. 27, 2007. In a game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Bergeron was hit from behind by Flyers defenseman Randy Jones. He lost consciousness and was forced to leave the ice on a stretcher. He also suffered a broken nose on the play.
   
Fortunately, no stretcher was needed this time around. Due to last season's injury, Bergeron appeared in only 10 games.
   
"He was strong enough to get back on his feet by himself, which was a good thing," Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez said. "He skated off on his own strength. That's always a real positive. We can't think about that too much right now. We've got to let the doctors take care of him. We really need him back, but I don't think other teams are going to take it easy on us because he's not in the lineup. We've got to concentrate on what's left and go from there."
   
Earlier in the day, Boston placed alternate captain Marco Sturm on injured reserve. Sturm suffered a lower-body injury during Thursday's 8-5 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins recalled Martin St. Pierre from Providence of the American Hockey League.
       
Material from wire services and team media was used in this report.