Bruins' Montgomery: Bergeron 'likely' to make series debut in Game 5

Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron didn't travel with the team to Florida but will "likely" make his series debut against the Panthers in Game 5, head coach Jim Montgomery said Friday.

Game 5 is scheduled to take place Wednesday at TD Garden.

In addition, Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark wasn't at practice Friday and is a game-time decision for Game 3 due to undisclosed reasons. The Vezina Trophy front-runner surrendered five goals on 29 shots Wednesday.

Bergeron missed Game 1 due to an illness, and the Bruins overcame his absence en route to a 3-1 victory. He was also held out of Game 2's 6-3 defeat, but Montgomery said he was no longer sick.

The captain exited after the first period of Boston's final game of the regular season - against the Montreal Canadiens - with an upper-body injury, but it was deemed precautionary at the time.

Montgomery said Friday that he doesn't regret keeping Bergeron in the lineup for game No. 82 because the team wanted to use the last two contests to ramp up for the playoffs.

"We don't have any reservations about what we did. ... Life happens. Unfortunately, (he) tweaked something in that last game. Even with the hindsight, we would still do it exactly the same way."

He added, "It was a well-thought-out plan."

Bergeron was sidelined for the Bruins' first two games in April while dealing with some nagging injuries and missed four of Boston's final 10 regular-season contests.

He ranked third on the team with 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) in 78 regular-season games this campaign while winning 61.1% of his faceoffs. The five-time Selke Trophy winner has raked in 127 points over 167 playoff contests.

The Bruins will look to reclaim their series lead in Sunrise at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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