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Boston Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk (55) reacts after being checked by Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty (67) during the first period at Bell Centre.JEAN-YVES AHERN

Boston Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk was taken from the ice on a stretcher and sent to hospital after a first-period hit from behind by Montreal forward Max Pacioretty on Thursday night.

After the game, coach Claude Julien said Boychuk was released from hospital and would return to Boston with the team. He had no details of the injury, which is believed to be a back problem.

"He can travel, but he's not out of the woods yet," said Julien, adding that he felt the two minutes Pacioretty got for boarding on the play was the correct call.

"For me it was two minutes, that's all. It was a check a bit from behind. It was the way he went into the boards."

The game was delayed several minutes as Boychuk was attended to by medical and training staff on the ice before being wheeled off the ice.

The incident occurred at 4:28 of the first period.

Boychuk had chased the puck into the Canadiens end of the rink. The hit into the end boards to the right of goalie Carey Price did not look particularly hard, but Boychuk's head struck the top of the boards and he fell to the ice.

He was on his knees breathing heavily for several minutes before trainers got him onto his back and onto the stretcher.

Pacioretty was on the receiving end of a hit from Boston's Zdeno Chara on March 8, 2011 that left the Canadiens left winger with a concussion and a fractured vertebrae in his neck.

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