Kobasew is bounced by fractured ankle
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ST. PAUL - Chuck Kobasew has been diagnosed with a fractured right ankle, thanks to yet another bad bounce, this one in the Bruins' season-opening win Thursday against Colorado. Last year, Kobasew suffered a broken left tibia when he was hit by a Zdeno Chara slap shot March 25.
"If you look at the incidents, they're unfortunate," Kobasew said. "One's a dump-in, one's a point shot. You can't get mad. You play the game hard. I guess that's the way it goes."
The most recent injury came midway through the second period off a Shane Hnidy dump-in slapper.
The Bruins will not determine how much time Kobasew will miss until they return to Boston and have their doctors examine the right wing.
"Right now, we don't know if it's a matter of a week, two weeks, or three weeks," said coach Claude Julien. "It's something where we're being cautious."
But last night, for the second game in a row, Alberts was the Bruins' healthy scratch on defense, forced to reclaim his game in practice and during extended morning skates.
Alberts, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at season's end, is in the second year of a $2.5 million contract. But the first year of his current deal was just about wiped out because of head and neck injuries, most likely caused by an ugly hit by Philadelphia forward Scott Hartnell. Last season, Alberts was limited to 35 games, recording zero goals and two assists.
This year hasn't been much better.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 218-pound Alberts has the size and skating ability to be an effective defense-first defenseman. But the former Boston College star struggled in training camp, appearing to think too much when he had the puck instead of reading and reacting.
In the preseason finale against Washington, Alberts lost an edge while breaking out of the zone and coughed up the puck. Washington forward Alexander Semin pounced on the bobble and dished a pass that Alex Ovechkin buried.
"It's about taking care of the puck in certain areas of the ice," Alberts said. "Bad luck or whatever it is, I had a few of those. So those kind of stick out. Get rid of those and I'll be all right."
The coaching staff has emphasized to Alberts the importance of making smart, simple plays. He'll have to make them consistently to get back into the lineup Wednesday in Montreal.
"The coaches said at the end of camp that even if I make mistakes, just to get back and make better plays after that," said Alberts. "So that's the encouraging thing."
The Bruins have started something similar with their second alternate captaincy. While Patrice Bergeron will be a full-time alternate, the other "A" will rotate among P.J. Axelsson, Marco Sturm, and Andrew Ference. Axelsson, who has worn the "A" the last two games, will feature it for another eight, then hand it off to Sturm for a 10-game stretch.
"I take it as a huge responsibility," said Ference, who has never served as an alternate during his NHL career. "We have a really strong leadership group. It's not just the guys who get to wear letters. We really do have good veteran guys that coaches and young guys deservedly lean on to set the example.
"The best captains and leaders I've had are, whether it's practice or game or off the ice, lead by example. They're obviously the hardest workers, in the gym lifting, on the ice working, or off the ice taking care of themselves and taking care of their lifestyles."
Julien, who informed the players of the system the day before the season opener, rotated his alternates in New Jersey.
"For us, it's giving more leadership responsibilities to more guys," Julien said. "You want guys to step up and be good leaders. The letters were distributed to those three guys.
"You also have to take into account that there are other leaders in that dressing room that don't have that letter but don't necessarily need that letter, either. You look at veterans like Stephane Yelle and Aaron Ward, guys that have won Stanley Cups. They know what it takes. They don't need that letter on their jersey to express themselves and show their leadership."
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.
