BOSTON — Marc Savard will miss the rest of the season after he was placed on long-term injured reserve on Monday with his second concussion in less than a year.
“I have a lot of feelings going on. I think I’m frustrated, mostly,” he said. “It’s tough to understand why this happened. It will take time and patience, those two things I don’t feel like I have much of.”
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Savard was injured in the Bruins’ Jan. 22 game against Colorado, when he was checked into the end boards’ glass by former teammate Matt Hunwick. Savard also sustained a concussion against Pittsburgh on March 7, 2010. He did not return until the second round of the playoffs and missed the first 23 games of this season.
Bruins doctor Peter Asnis said it’s not clear what effect the previous concussion had on this injury.
“As far as this hit goes, he sustained a concussion, and he likely would have whether or not he sustained a concussion last year,” Asnis said. “Certainly we worry about players who have multiple concussions, going forward.”
Savard has two goals and eight assists in 25 games, and 207 goals and 499 assists in a 13-year career that also includes stops with the New York Rangers, Calgary Flames and Atlanta Thrashers. He signed with Boston as a free agent in 2006 and was re-signed in 2009 to a seven-year extension that takes him through the 2016-17 season.
Savard said it was too early to decide whether he will be able to return.
“I’m not going to make any decision about my future until I get some more medical stuff done. I’ve just got to be patient going forward,” he said. “My agent talked to me a lot, and he gave me time to think about a lot of things. It’s going to be tough, especially watching them play.”
Savard’s first concussion was the result of a check by Penguins forward Matt Cooke that led the NHL to outlaw blindside hits to the head. Savard missed the last 18 games of the regular season but returned for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Philadelphia.
Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli said the blindside hit rule has helped, but also thinks the league should look at other ways to keep players safe, like making the pads softer.
“I think we have to be careful with the integrity of the game,” he said. “But I do think we have to look at that.”
RED WINGS 3, RANGERS 2: Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist after missing 19 games with a broken right wrist, as Detroit won at home.
Brandon Dubinsky scored with 4:05 left in the game to pull the Rangers within a goal. They failed to tie the game despite having a two-man advantage for 44 seconds late in the third and being on the power play to end the game.
Datsyuk’s second-period goal allowed Detroit to avoid getting shut out in three straight games for the first time in franchise history.
Detroit’s Jimmy Howard stopped the first 32 shots he faced and finished with 45 saves.
Martin Biron, making his second straight start in place of Henrik Lundqvist, stopped 32 shots for the Rangers.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, THRASHERS 4: Nikolai Kulemin and Tim Brent scored third-period goals to lead Toronto to a win at home.
Dion Phaneuf, Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur also scored for Toronto, which played another high-scoring game against Atlanta. The teams have combined for 30 goals in three meetings this season.
Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane, Nik Antropov and Andrew Ladd scored for the Thrashers.
Toronto Coach Ron Wilson tinkered with his lines for the first time in roughly a month and seemed to find some chemistry. Frustrated winger Phil Kessel saw his goal drought reach 11 games, but looked good on a new top unit with Grabovski and Kulemin for the final two periods.
OILERS 4, PREDATORS 0: Rookie Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves in his first career NHL shutout for visiting Edmonton.
Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Jones, Jim Vandermeer and Dustin Penner scored for Edmonton, which ended a four-game losing streak.
Dubnyk had to be sharp early with Nashville holding a 13-1 advantage in shots on goal through the first 10 minutes of the first period.
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