The Bruins did not have an update on center David Backes, who left the game Thursday with an upper-body injury. He did not practice Friday. "He's being assessed today," coach Claude Julien said. "The organization will release something as soon as they know more. He's seeing the doctors." If Backes doesn't play, Frank Vatrano would replace him on a line with Ryan Spooner and center David Krejci, who has two goals and two assists in his past two games. "You cross your fingers that it can last as long as it can, because when [Krejci's] at his best he's one of the better players in the League, and he knows that," Julien said. The Bruins, 2-1-1 since they last played at TD Garden on Dec. 20, trailed in their comeback win at Buffalo and trailed at the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 before losing 4-3 on Tuesday. "I think we're trying to feel our way through a game vs. setting I guess the stage for what the other team should expect," Julien said about the Bruins starts. "Whether that's confidence, whether that's just playing on our toes, we need to fix that."
