This is not the best way to start the playoffs.
Robert Bortuzzo did not have a good night last night. A broken stick at the worst possible time led to the Wild’s first goal by Joel Eriksson Ek, who would score two of the Wild’s six.
Then this happened:
bortuzzo takes a puck to the side of the face and heads straight to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/Rbz4Echooz
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) May 5, 2022
Bortuzzo promptly left to go to the locker room for repairs, but there’s not much that a trainer can do for a puck to the side of the head. Bortuzzo’s considered day-to-day.
This is on top of an upper-body injury to Nick Leddy and a lower-body injury to Marco Scandella. Scandella has yet to play this post-season, while Leddy finished game one before sitting game two out.
The Blues are without three regular defensemen now, and it shows. Calle Rosen, while clearly trying his best, was also clearly outmatched with his increased responsibility. He was on the ice for 16:34 to compensate for Bortuzzo’s loss. The team’s 6-2 blowout loss last night was not the reaction that many fans expected to the Blues’ 4-0 win on Monday, but being without half of their defense more than likely did not help their cause.
Craig Berube seems optimistic:
Berube on whether Leddy, Bortuzzo or Scandella can be ready for Game 3: “Yeah, there’s always expectation or belief. We’ll see how they are.”
Berube on Bortuzzo update: “No, not really. Right now he’s upper-body, out.” #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) May 5, 2022
Let’s all keep our fingers crossed at least one of the trio will be back on Friday night.