Bruins' Eriksson ok to play after having teeth "bashed in"

For certain, there is a more medical-sounding diagnosis for a player losing his Chiclets, but Claude Julien's layman's description works just as well.

Boston Bruins' forward Loui Eriksson, already the poster child for upper-body injuries in the National Hockey League, suffered "bashed in" teeth in the Bruins' 3-2 overtime loss in St. Louis on Thursday night courtesy of a high stick from the Blues' Maxim Lapierre.

“Loui’s doing OK." Julien added while addressing his condition in a Friday post-practice presser, a practice that Eriksson missed. "The only reason he missed is he’s obviously getting some dental work done and making sure he’s all fixed up before tomorrow and before he leaves for the Olympics,”

NHL.com/Getty Images

The Bruins' bench boss added that he didn't expect the oft-injured winger to miss the pre-break finale against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, nor any action skating for the Swedish National Team in the Sochi Olympics.

The flight back to Boston from St. Louis and a good night's sleep had given Julien plenty of time to calm down about a non-call on the high stick - which in truth should have been a four-minute major, but instead the sequence ending with Alexander Steen scoring the Blues' first goal - but he was still steamed.

“The linesman saw it, and the rule is that the linesman can call it if there’s a high stick with blood,” Julien quipped “We thought it was going to get called because he’d seen it. Technically, we thought the goal wouldn’t count, and it could be taken back."

 But that whistle needed to be blown right away, and it wasn’t." he continued, “So they can’t take it back, and we have a player with some teeth bashed in."

As for Eriksson, Julien seemed genuinely perplexed as to how the 28-year-old could keep getting injured without any infraction being called on the perpetrator.  "He had quite a few stitches in his mouth. This guy has already been through a lot for us - poor Loui. Nothing is getting called against him, and he’s just taking his lumps. It was a little disappointing.”

Eriksson, in his first season with Boston as part of the trade that sent Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars has gotten laid out by Buffalo Sabres' goon John Scott and Pittsburgh Penguins Brooks Orpik - both players seeming to target Eriksson's head, and both players taken to task by Bruins' enforcers in lieu of punishment by the officials.

Both hits also led to concussions, from which Eriksson missed a total of 20 games.

http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/02/bruins-eriksson-ok-to-play-after-having.html#.UvZavbQcq58