“He’s doing much better today, so let’s just hope that things continue to improve and he’s back in our lineup after Saturday,” coach Claude Julien said. “It all depends on how he does from here on in.”

The Bruins’ top-line center was placed on injured reserve Tuesday night, meaning he will miss at least the team’s first three games — against the Flyers Wednesday, in Detroit Thursday, and against the Capitals Saturday.

Krejci was apparently injured in Saturday’s preseason finale. He retreated down the tunnel twice in the second period, and did not return. The undisclosed injury was called “very, very minor,” by Julien at the time, but it has turned out to be a bit less than minor.


“I didn’t feel good enough to finish the game,” Krejci said at the team’s media day Tuesday, after missing that morning’s practice. “We were just being cautious . . . It didn’t heal as fast as I would have liked it to. I would say it’s kind of day to day.”

Without Krejci, the team has turned to Ryan Spooner, the young, speedy, talented center who played 23 games in the NHL last season. Spooner centered Milan Lucic and Matt Fraser Wednesday, giving him a chance to show off the talents that have brought him to this point.

“He’s a player we can rely on,” Julien said. “His speed is a hard thing to find in this league, so when you have it, you try and maximize it. We’ll see how he handles it, and we’ll go from there. But certainly a big asset to be able to have a guy like that who can certainly play with some skilled players and still give us that sort of dynamic.”


The line struggled Wednesday night, seeming out of synch for most of the game. It wasn’t all that surprising, given that Lucic is still working his way back from offseason surgery and the fact that the trio hadn’t played together much in the preseason.

“But,” as Lucic said, “the good thing was we didn’t get scored on, which is one of our jobs.”

The Bruins and Julien have taken a tough-love approach to Spooner this week, sending him back to Providence a week ago before bringing him back up on Friday. It was, as Spooner admitted, something he took as a wakeup call.

And even with the 22-year-old having been named to the opening day roster, Julien wasn’t exactly backing off on the motivation Wednesday morning.

“This is not negative, but he hasn’t made the team,” the coach said. “He’s here. He’s got to hang onto his spot. We’re giving him that opportunity. So we’ve said that before: Anybody who feels comfortable here certainly doesn’t have the right approach to our team. It’s about earning it.

“But the thing I liked about what he did was he had an average camp, he was sent down, and he came back and he showed us that he wanted a second chance and proved that he deserved a second chance. So he’s got it now.”

Robins arrives

Nine days shy of his 33d birthday, Bobby Robins made his NHL debut after 499 games in the AHL, ECHL, and Europe.

Robins played 6:58 in the game, earning seven penalty minutes, and delivering five hits. He punctuated the game with his first NHL fight, a bout with Luke Schenn at 10:52 of the second period that resulted in an ovation from the TD Garden crowd.


“It was awesome,” Robins said. “Just after nine years to have that happen was a dream come true and to play here at the Garden after playing four years at UMass-Lowell and always watching the Bruins for the past bunch of years. It was a very special feeling; I’ll never forget it.”

Robins played on the fourth line with Daniel Paille and Craig Cunningham, forming a responsible trio that drew what could have been a big penalty with the game tied with 6:01 to go.

But now that Robins has made his debut, he’s not content to leave it there.

“I definitely want to keep going,” said Robins, whose wife and 11-month old daughter, Libby, were in the stands. “I don’t want to just play one game – I want to keep stringing together games and stringing together good games and make that a season, make that two seasons, and make that a career and keep going. I’ve definitely got the itch now – I want to stay in this league.”

Hamilton struggles

This was not exactly the start that Dougie Hamilton was hoping for as he kicked off his third season in the NHL. Hamilton, picked by many to have a breakout season, was plagued by bad decision-making, poor pinches, and mistimed passes.


“I thought I was bad, but everyone else played well and battled,” Hamilton said.

Asked about those bad moments, Hamilton said, “There was a lot of them. I think just a lot of brain farts and just have to be better tomorrow.”

One of the tougher moments was a pinch at the start of the second period that led to the Bruins being trapped in their end for two minutes. It was not one of Hamilton’s best decisions. As he said, “Just have to be better.”

“We’ve seen Dougie play some solid games,” Julien said. “He had a tough night tonight. That’s going to happen to everybody. But it doesn’t change my opinion on the player. I think there was a couple times where he might have forced it and we didn’t have four guys coming back. Normally, Doug will read those plays much better.”

Another shot at a spot

With a second center missing from the lineup in Gregory Campbell — who was placed on non-roster injury reserve Tuesday — the Bruins had another open spot on the roster, which they gave to Cunningham, who played two games last season in the NHL.

“It’s still a tryout and I’ve still got to prove myself,” said Cunningham, who passed through waivers this weekend. “Just trying to take it day-by-day and try to prove to them that I belong.”

Cunningham scored 25 goals and had 22 assists for the Providence Bruins in 2013-2014, but has yet to score his first NHL point. He knew going into camp that he had to play a little differently than he had been playing in the minors to make the team. So he increased the grit and the commitment to the two-way game and, it appears, that helped his cause.


“Obviously, that’s where the opportunity is,” Cunningham said of the fourth line. “I think for me to come into the league that’s my best fit right now and just have to play that way every night. Can’t take a night off. Every day they’re watching.”

Rotation of seven

Matt Bartkowski was the seventh defenseman, but it appears the team will use something of a rotation, at least in the early season. Of course, that was also how the Bruins started last season before inserting Hamilton into the lineup every night and losing Adam McQuaid (and then Dennis Seidenberg) to injury. As Julien said, “I think we’ve got seven defensemen that are regulars in the NHL. Top-four role, I think there’s a lot of guys that can play in those roles. They’ve got the experience and right now we feel comfortable with our seven guys that we have. Is [the loss of Johnny Boychuk] a hole to fill? Or does that just mean that we went from eight capable NHL defensemen to seven? That’s how I have to look at it.”

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amaliebenjamin.