Krug, Carlo won't play for Bruins against Flyers
Defenseman each has upper-body injury; Boston has six-point lead in Atlantic Division
by Amalie Benjamin @AmalieBenjamin / NHL.com Staff Writer
BOSTON -- Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo won't play for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, NBCSP, NESN). Each defenseman has an upper-body injury.
Krug and Carlo missed practice Monday, though Carlo skated by himself before the team took the ice.
"Torey went into the boards awkwardly with [Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex] Killorn the other night (Saturday), so there's a little residual effect of that," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "So he'll be day-to-day as well as Brandon."
Krug leads Bruins defensemen with 49 points (nine goals, 40 assists) in 61 games, and is averaging 20:29 of ice time per game.
Carlo won't play for a second straight game. He left the 2-1 overtime win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday during the second period after he was elbowed by Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov. Carlo has a personal NHL-best 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 67 games.
Cassidy said Carlo could play against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday or the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Defenseman Connor Clifton will play on a pair with John Moore on Tuesday. It will be Clifton's first game since Dec. 29 because of an upper-body injury. He has two goals in 30 games.
Clifton was activated from injured reserve Saturday. He had played two games with Providence of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint.
"I'm pretty fresh so I'm going to keep my legs moving and keep it simple," Clifton said. "Limit mistakes."
Cassidy said the conditioning stint will help some, but he expects Clifton to be rusty.
"He hasn't played here for a while so he's going to have to find his game, stay within himself early on, make some simple decisions, hopefully initiate some plays early so he gets into it," he said. "Obviously playing in Providence will have helped that, but it's not the same."
Boston (43-14-12) is 7-3-0 in its past 10 games and six points ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division.