Boston Bruins forward David Backes will undergo surgery to remove a portion of his colon with the expected recovery time being about eight weeks, the team announced Wednesday.
Backes suffers from diverticulitis, a digestive-system ailment. He missed the team’s first five games of the season before being cleared to play on Oct. 19.
The Bruins’ team internist, Dr. David Finn, issued the update on the 33-year-old Backes in a press release from the team.
“David Backes will undergo surgery on Thursday to remove a portion of his colon,” the release said. “The expected recovery time is approximately 8 weeks. The decision to have surgery was made in consultation with team physicians as well as outside specialists in the management of diverticulitis.
“David’s episode of diverticulitis at the beginning of the season was his second episode in two months and was complicated with an abscess (collection of infection adjacent to the colon) that required drainage. Repeated episodes, like what David experienced, have a very high likelihood of recurrence in the near term, which is why he was advised to have surgery to remove the area of colon causing the problem. It was determined that attempting to delay the surgery until after the season was an unacceptable risk to his health.
“David was cleared to play in the team’s games on October 19 while waiting for his colon to properly heal from the most recent episode of diverticulitis which sidelined him for the first five games of the 2017-18 season. David was at no additional risk while playing during this period, and he is having the surgery as soon as the medical team felt comfortable moving forward with the operation.”
In five games this season, Backes had an assist and averaged 17:35 time on ice. He recorded 17 goals and 38 points in 2016-17 — his first year with the Bruins after playing his first 10 seasons with the St. Louis Blues.
The Bruins also announced they recalled forward Jordan Szwarz and goaltender Zane McIntyre from Providence of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis.
Szwarz, 26, has five goals and three assists in six games with Providence this season. He has appeared in 35 career NHL games, totaling four goals and 21 penalty minutes.
McIntyre, 25, has a 4-1-0 record with a 1.81 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in five games with Providence.
Bruins to battle expansion team
The expansion Vegas Golden Knights have faced a bit of turbulence given the constant uneven turns of their goaltender carousel while the Boston Bruins have their own health issues of late. Both teams look to snap modest two-game losing skids on Thursday night when they play the finale of their two-game season series at TD Garden in Boston.
Maxime Lagace became the fourth goaltender to start for the Golden Knights this season after turning aside 32 shots in a 6-4 setback at the New York Rangers on Tuesday. “I’m taking the experience in and I’m having fun with all of that. I wish we won (Tuesday) but it’s going to be refocus for next game,” said the 24-year-old Lagace, who made his second appearance and first NHL start after Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion), Malcolm Subban (lower body) and Oscar Dansk (lower body) were placed on injured reserve. While Vegas let a third-period lead slip away, Boston saw Tyler Toffoli score as time expired in a 2-1 overtime setback to Los Angeles on Saturday before rallying from a three-goal deficit two nights later only to drop a 4-3 shootout decision at Columbus. Brad Marchand, who had an assist in the Bruins’ 3-1 loss to Vegas on Oct. 15, has scored in back-to-back contests and recorded a point in all but two games this season.
NOTES: Boston has scored seven power-play goals in its last five games after going 0-for-3 with the man advantage versus Vegas. … Golden Knights C Oscar Lindberg, who tallied against the Bruins, has two goals in his last three outings. … Boston LW David Pastrnak, who scored in the first meeting with Vegas, has recorded four multi-point performances in his last seven games.