Kevan Miller's Injury Worse Than Bruins Initially Believed; D-Man Downgraded To Week-To-Week

BOSTON (CBS) -- Pretty much everything is going right for the Boston Bruins these days. Well, for most everyone except Kevan Miller.

The defenseman hasn't played since Feb. 23, after suffering an upper-body injury while blocking a shot in the previous game on Feb. 20. Miller was initially considered to be day-to-day, but head coach Bruce Cassidy said that status has been downgraded to week-to-week after an MRI revealed some bad news.

"Kevan Miller was not out there," Cassidy said after Monday's practice. "He got a little bit of bad news the other day with his MRI. We didn't think it was much, [but] they found something there. So it's a little more serious than we first thought. So he's been classified as week-to-week, as opposed to day-to-day."

The 31-year-old Miller has skated in 36 games for the Bruins, registering six assists, a plus-5 rating, and a 49.7 Corsi For percentage. He missed time earlier this season after taking a shot off the throat.

Miller is among a handful of injured Bruins, including David Pastrnak (thumb) and Sean Kuraly (concussion). Cassidy said that Kuraly is "trending toward" playing on Thursday, after he suffered a concussion late in Thursday's win in Tampa. Pastrnak is still a ways away from a return, after he underwent a procedure to repair a torn ligament in his thumb in February.

The Bruins are riding a 16-game point streak, going 12-0-4 since their last regulation loss on Jan. 19. Despite that surge, they still hold just a three-point lead over the Maple Leafs for the second place spot in the Atlantic Division. (The first-place Lightning own a 17-point lead over Boston.) The Bruins own a 10-point cushion over the Eastern Conference's current wild-card teams, which makes it likely that the Bruins will once again face Toronto in the first round of the playoffs.

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