Bruins dealt devastating blow with Andrew Peeke
Tuesday morning’s optional practice at Brighton’s Warrior Ice Arena did not come with Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke among those on the ice. But it did come with an update on the rugged blue liner, and one that could throw a wrench in the Bruins’ postseason run, with Peeke considered week-to-week by the club.
Andrew Peeke is week to week.
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) April 23, 2024
The Bruins also confirmed that Peeke will not travel to Toronto for Games 3 and 4 of their series with the Maple Leafs.
Boston’s update on Peeke comes after a Game 2 that finished without Peeke available to the Bruins for the end of the second period and all of the third period after he appeared to take a Tyler Bertuzzi shot off the hand. The Bruins almost immediately felt the loss of Peeke on the John Tavares power-play goal that tied things up at 2-2 before the end of the second period, and his loss was felt in a third period that saw the Black and Gold’s five-man defensive unit simply running on fumes by the end of the game.
Through two games of the series, Peeke had done his job on the B’s penalty kill, with a team-leading two hits and two blocked shots in 4:49 of shorthanded time on ice (third-most among all Bruins). Peeke’s most notable contribution on the penalty kill came in a Game 1 4-on-3 kill that saw him out there for all but about 10 seconds of a 1:50 kill.
At even-strength play, Peeke was most commonly matched up against the Leafs’ bottom-six lines.
With Peeke out, the Bruins will likely turn to Parker Wotherspoon for Game 3 in Toronto, though the Bruins have recalled Derek Forbort and Mason Lohrei from Providence in recent days. Both Lohrei and Wotherspoon are considered options for Game 3, while Forbort is looking like a longshot for Game 3 despite his recent upgrade to ‘day-to-day’ status.
