Falling-glass incident involving David Krejci leaves Bruins perplexed

BOSTON — From the jubilation of victory to confusion, the Boston Bruins had no idea what happened. One moment they were celebrating their Game 1 overtime victory around hero Chris Kelly, and the next, David Krejci was lying on the ice, hit by a pane of glass that fell down on top of him.

“It was really weird. I was right there and all I seen was the glass fall on him,” defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. “I don’t know what the heck happened.”

It looked like the pane of glass behind the Washington Capitals’ net at TD Garden just came loose, either simply at a bad time or because fans pushed on it. But the situation was surreal.

“Everybody’s like standing there and all you hear is the partitions hit the ice and you look over and there’s Kretch,” Boychuk said.

The pane of glass fell on Krejci as he was turned the other direction. He missed practice Friday with what he and coach Claude Julien called a sore neck, though both said he was planning on playing in Game 2 of the first-round series4 Saturday.

“He’s fine. Glass fell on him yesterday as everybody saw. He was a little bit stiff around the neck area this morning,” Julien said. “He’s scheduled to play tomorrow. So, again, it really is not that big of an issue, although it seems to be right now, but he’s fine.”

Julien and Krejci both brushed off concern minutes after a practice in which Jordan Caron skated on the first line. Caron was a healthy scratch Thursday filling in for Krejci alongside Milan Lucic and Rich Peverley.

“I got a little sore neck,” Krejci said. “Other than that, I’m good, and I’ll play tomorrow.”

Video of the incident didn’t look good, as the glass, which the Boston Globe reported to weight 121 pounds, appeared to strike the unsuspecting Czech center in the back of the head or upper back.

Asked if he had been tested for a concussion, Krejci responded: “Um, I feel good.” Boston’s public relations staff did not let the inquisition last more than a handful of questions.

The Bruins are a much different team without Krejci. His injury in the 2010 second-round series with the Philadelphia Flyers was seen as one of the primary reasons Boston blew a 3-0 series lead to lose in seven games.

It appears as if he’ll be OK moving forward, but that doesn’t mean the pane of glass wasn’t one of the most puzzling topics of conversation Friday.

“The incident was really weird,” forward Shawn Thornton said. “I’m not sure how that happens. I’ve never seen that before.”

Julien called it a “fluke accident” but was ready to turn the attention to Krejci being OK rather than the victim of it.

“In a way, we’re kind of fortunate that it wasn’t worse than what it is,” Julien said. “With the weight of that glass, it could have been a lot worse, and it could have been a lot more damaging. He’s fine, and we probably dodged a bullet there.”