BOSTON – Rookie Tyler Seguin did more than just score 3 goals in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Bruins. He also nearly knocked out one of his most important teammates.
During a practice May 16 in the midst of Boston's Eastern Conference Finals series with Tampa Bay, Seguin fired a shot off of power forward Milan Lucic's right foot, a shot that ended up breaking the big toe of the Bruins leading goal-scorer from the regular season, it was revealed Sunday.
When you combine the toe injury with the sinus infection that slowed him down late in the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs – Lucic said the infection caused him to not be able to sleep properly – it's amazing he was still able to come up with 5-7-12 totals without missing any of the Bruins' 25 postseason games.
Lucic only recorded 2 assists in the first round but recorded 7 points, including 4 goals, in the last two series.
"I always said along the way that it didn't matter how I played as an individual," Lucic said Sunday as the Bruins gathered for breakup day at TD Garden. "Luckily we had more wins there than losses so I could get criticized a lot less.
Learning how to battle through injuries was only one reason for Lucic's improved play toward the end of the postseason. He also relaxed and got back to basics.
"I was letting the pressure of the expectations get to me. … I was forgetting all the things I did that led to me scoring 30 goals [during the regular season]," he explained.
Lucic is going to rest the big toe and then later this summer have surgery to fix his nose, which hasn't been set properly since he broke it in his rookie season.
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