By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff

Steven Kampfer will not play tonight because of a concussion he suffered on Thursday. Kampfer was KO'ed when Mattias Ritola belted him in the corner in the second period. Players with mild concussions are usually told to expect to miss a week. But given Kampfer's concussion history and the club's scares with Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron, the first-year defenseman might be out longer than one week.

"We're going to take it day by day," Kampfer said. "I'm feeling better each day we go on, which is a positive thing. At the same time, we've got a lot of the season left. You don't want to rush back from something like this and have it keep happening over and over again. Just make sure I'm totally symptom-free before I start skating again or even biking. They're going to take things extra slow."

In retrospect, Kampfer was surprised that Ritola wasn't called for a penalty.

"I saw the tape," said Kampfer of the play. "It kind of rubs me the wrong way that there was no penalty on the play, because he had no intention of playing the puck. It bothered me that way. I thought it was a clean hit because my body was square. But it's not fun when you're not expecting a hit. It's frustrating because you don't want to sit out either."

Kampfer said he didn't know right away that he had suffered a concussion. After returning to the bench and talking with trainer Don DelNegro, Kampfer started experiencing headaches. Kampfer skated one shift, but his headaches got stronger, so he called it a night after two periods.

* Claude Julien said he expects Bergeron to return for practice on Monday.