Bruins injuries mount; Rival those of Caps

Call the nurse, we have a bleeder.

It appears that the hemorrhaging that the Capitals suffered at the hands of the injury bug through the month of December has now befallen on other teams.

Most notably the Boston Bruins (and Pittsburgh Penguins).

Boston will limp into the Verizon Center tonight without the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm or Phil Kessel. Bergeron is suffering from his second concussion in as many years (Brian Pothier called to say hello), while Sturm underwent surgery on his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament, and will be out for the season.

Kessel, meanwhile, has a case of mononucleosis (more generally known as mono). While it is unclear when Bergeron will return to the line-up, Kessel is tabled to be back in mid-February.

The Bruins will also be missing shutdown defenseman Andrew Ference, who's broken tibia will keep him sidelined at least a few more games.

Aaron Ward will also be out until at least the 19th with a charley horse.

Finally, Milan Lucic rounds out the list of the battered and bruised with an undisclosed injury that is keeping him out of the line-up.

Sound familiar? Well, if you've been following the Capitals it should.

I for one cannot recall the last time the Capitals played with a fully healthy line-up, but I would have to assume it wasn't long into the month of October before the injury carosel was fired up.

However, for the most part, Washington is begining to get healthy for the second half of the season.

Tom Poti is close to making a return while Brian Pothier will be seeking clearance to return to the ice next week. Boyd Gordon and Shaone Morrisonn are both out, but neither of them are suffering from anything too serious.

The key to success will be staying healthy down the stretch as teams such as Boston, Pittsburgh and Montreal all seem to be going through the motions that this team saw in December.

Washington, so far- has weathered the storm. Only time will tell if these other Eastern Conference teams will be able to do the same.

NOTE: In Wednesday night's game, the Capitals took four (Crosby, Letang, Talbot, Scuderi) Penguins out of the line-up, and all are questionable for tonight's game versus the New York. Rangers