The Bruins announced Swedish center Carl Soderberg has been cleared to join the Bruins. The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation had originally contested Soderberg’s availability, saying that he was under contract with Linkoping until May 15. The NHL, however, ruled that was not the case. Elliotte Friedman of CBC was first to report the news via Twitter. The team also announced on Twitter that Soderberg will wear No. 34.

Here is the Bruins’ press release:

Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today, April 13, that the club has signed forward Carl Soderberg to a three-year, one-way contract through the 2014-15 season. The NHL approved the Standard Player Contract of Soderberg for registration today at 5:00 p.m.

Soderberg’s salary is worth an annual cap figure of one million dollars. Soderberg will join the club Wednesday, April 17, and will be eligible for the remainder of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chiarelli issued the following statement in regards to Soderberg:

“We are fortunate to get a player like Carl at this stage of the season. I would like to thank the President of the Linkoping hockey club, Mike Helber and their GM, Johan Hemlin, in playing a significant part in allowing Carl to play for the Boston Bruins. Carl is a big strong two way center who can also play wing. We look forward to him joining our team this week.”

In 54 games with Linkoping HC (Swedish Elite League) this year, Soderberg has registered 31 goals and 29 assists for 60 points with a +18 rating. The 27-year-old forward is ranked 1st the SEL in goals (31), second in points (60), seventh in assists (29) and 12th in plus/minus rating (+18). Linköping HC and Soderberg were eliminated from the Swedish Elite League Playoffs on Friday, April 5 with the final series score of 4-1.

In 2011-12, Soderberg was second on Linköping HC in points (35) and assists (21), and was tied for second in goals (14).

In two seasons with Linkoping HC, Soderberg has skated in 96 games, notching 45 goals, 50 assists for 95 points with a +24 rating. Prior to joining Linköping HC, the 27-year-old forward skated in 219 games with the Malmo Redhawks (Sweden 1st Division) from 2005-2010 tallying 80-159=239 totals with a combined +69 rating.

The 6’3’’ 218-pound native of Malmo, Sweden was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the second round (49th overall) the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. The Bruins acquired Soderberg from the Blues on July 23, 2007 in exchange for goaltender Hannu Toivonen.

For more on Soderberg, click here to read D.J. Bean’s column on the center.

I’m sick of hearing that the Bruins are tired.

“We ran out of gas,” Claude Julien claimed after Thursday night’s loss to Islanders. “The effort and will was there. They were obviously a little fresher than we were.”

If Tyler Seguin and the Bruins have tired legs, it's up to coach Claude Julien to give them time to get back to full strength before the playoffs. (AP)

Maybe.

That quote came just two days after he said, “The schedule has been as tough as it could ever be on an athlete. We’ve got to be careful of how hard we push those guys, because they are tired.”

I don’t disagree.

The schedule obviously has been brutal. Yes, the Bruins face the same difficulties as every other team in the league, but they currently are in the worst of the gauntlet. Whereas they started the season with more days off than most other teams, they are paying the price for that now.

So I’m happy to concede that exhaustion is playing a role in their recent string of uninspired performances.

Normally, this is the time where I would remind athletes and coaches that if they avoid making an excuse out loud, someone will make it for them. We all know the schedule is tough; let us remind people and it will sound more like an explanation and less like an excuse.

And for Tyler Seguin, who said Thursday night that while he wasn’t making excuses, “we ran out of gas after three games in four nights,” I would repeat that message.

But to Julien, I would offer some additional advice.

If your team is so tired, do something about it!

Look, we all know the Bruins are going to make the playoffs and it’s a virtual certainty that they will fill either the second or fourth seed. So, what would be the harm in resting a few exhausted players for a game or two? If they are so desperate for some fresh legs, why not create them?

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Patrice Bergeron

Patrice Bergeron will make the trip to Carolina with the Bruins, coach Claude Julien told reporters at Friday’s practice in Boston, where Bergeron skated with his teammates. However, Bergeron is not expected to play against the Hurricanes on Saturday,

Bergeron has been out since April 2 with a concussion, which he sustained after a hit from Colin Greening of the Senators during a 3-2 Bruins win. He resumed workouts this week and skated in Friday’s team practice. He has a history of concussions, and this most recent one was his third since a major one in October 2007 that knocked him out for the remainder of the season.

Bergeron has missed five games, in which the Bruins have gone 3-2, and still ranks second on the team with 31 points.

Pierre McGuire

NBC’s Pierre McGuire talked with Mut & Merloni on Wednesday about the state of the Bruins as the regular season winds down, who they might match up well against in the playoffs and why some other teams are picking up their game as the Bruins appear to wear down.

McGuire was there for the Bruins’ 5-4 win over the Devils on Wednesday, and he said that despite their inconsistencies lately, Boston fans shouldn’t be worried about the team.

“They were solid and reliable early on and then they let their guard down a little bit,” McGuire said of Wednesday’s game. “I think mental and physical fatigue is probably kicking in a little bit. But they were good enough to win in that game. The big thing that’s impressing me is their ability to kill penalties, their ability to play with an edge that’s required, especially when it comes to the playoffs. If you play with that edge and you do take penalties and you can kill them off, that’s huge.

“I know a lot of people are probably a little bit fidgety right now because they lost last night on home ice to the Islanders. The Islanders are doing that to a lot of teams right now, and I think three games in four days right now probably broke [the Bruins] down a little bit. I wouldn’t worry too much about them. I think the Bruins are going to be just fine.”

Despite the fact that the Islanders just beat the Bruins, McGuire said he still thinks they’re an ideal first-round playoff matchup for the Bruins.

“The New York Islanders obviously are an upstart team,” he said. “If I was the Bruins, I wouldn’t be afraid about playing them in the playoffs. I just don’t think they have enough overall depth to play against the Boston Bruins. That would be the team, if I could pick a team — that’s the team I’d want to play against.”

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The Bruins continued their borderline stumble to the finish line of the regular season Thursday night with a 2-1 loss to the Islanders at TD Garden.

Josh Bailey had a two-goal performance in the win for the Islanders. He got New York on the board with 21 seconds left in the first period and gave them the lead again later in the second after Tyler Seguin had tied with a power-play goal. Tuukka Rask stopped 34 of 36 shots.

The Bruins will next play Saturday in Carolina.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- Another bad game for Milan Lucic. One night after turning the puck over on the power play that led to a shorthanded goal, Lucic had multiple unforced turnovers, including one in the first period that led to sustained pressure from the Islanders. After getting the puck off a rebound from Rask, Lucic could have sent the puck out up the left side, but instead backhanded it across in front of Rask’s net and right to Kyle Okposo. The Islanders kept the puck in the zone for another 20 seconds or so but didn’t score. Lucic had just one shot on goal in the game.

- It wasn’t pretty for Nathan Horton either. Skating on a line with Daniel Paille and David Krejci, Horton was a minus-2 with one shot on goal.

- Rask made some tremendous saves, but he should have stopped both Islanders goals. Bailey’s shot on his first goal was a top-corner bullet that Rask could have nabbed, but the second goal was the real softy. Rask stopped Bailey on a 2-on-1, only to let the puck trickle into the net ever so slowly.

The numbers suggest that Rask should be a Vezina candidate, but he’s allowed some bad goals this season.

- Dougie Hamilton was a healthy scratch Thursday night, marking the first time that he hasn’t played in his rookie season.

- The primary assist on Bailey’s first-period goal came from none other than Mark Streit, and he picked up the secondary helper on Bailey’s second goal. The Islanders captain seemed like a logical fit for the B’s at the trade deadline, but the Islanders elected to hang onto the puck-moving defenseman and try to contend. Streit is a free agent at the end of the season.

- A good point from Mike Salk, who noted that it’s been quite a while since a Bruin has dropped the gloves. The last time was on Marchn 27, when Gregory Campbell fought Travis Moen. Shawn Thornton last fought on March 23, which was 10 games ago.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Gregory Campbell and Jaromir extended their point streaks to three games by picking up assists on Seguin’s goal. Campbell now has two goals and three assists for five points over the last three contests, while Jagr has five assists in the span. Campbell was on the Bruins’ second power play unit in place of Milan Lucic.

- Adam McQuaid made his return to the Bruins’ lineup after missing the last 11 games with a shoulder strain. It wasn’t the prettiest return for McQuaid, as he was on the ice for both of Bailey’s goals and had a minus-2 rating on the game.

- For just the second time this season, the Bruins have had power play goals in consecutive games. Zdeno Chara had a power-play tally on Wednesday against the Devils, with Seguin’s goal Thursday coming on the man advantage.

Casey Cizikas watches as Josh Bailey's shot flies by Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask late in the first period Thursday at TD Garden. (AP)

Josh Bailey scored twice and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 30-of-31 shots as the Islanders beat the Bruins, 2-1, Thursday night at TD Garden. The Bruins (26-10-4) had their modest two-game win streak snapped and more importantly, fell back into second place in the Northeast Division, one point behind Montreal, which beat the Sabres in Buffalo.

The Bruins played their first game without Brad Marchand, who was diagnosed Thursday with a concussion. He becomes the second player on his line out of action with a concussion, though Patrice Bergeron did return Thursday morning and participated in a light pre-game skate at the Garden.

With Marchand out coach Claude Julien was forced to juggle the lineups again, starting with a line Jaromir Jagr and Milan Lucic, and centered by Gregory Campbell. David Krejci centered the line of Nathan Horton and Daniel Paille.

Adam McQuaid returned after missing the previous 11 games with a shoulder injury. McQuaid’s return allowed Julien the chance to rest rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton for the first time this season. The rookie had played in all 39 games before Thursday’s game.

The Bruins and Islanders appeared destined for a scoreless opening period before the Bruins allowed the Isles to break out on a 4-on-2. Bailey ripped off a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Tuukka Rask to the top far corner with 20.5 seconds left in the first.

The Bruins got the goal back on a pretty power play feed from Campbell to Tyler Seguin across the low slot. Seguin’s one-timer cleanly beat Nabokov 3:41 into the second for the equalizer. Despite the power play goal, the Islanders carried play though the period, outshooting Boston, 19-8. The hard work paid off for the visitors when Bailey fired a bad-angle shot from the left circle on Rask. The Bruins goalie appeared to have the play covered but allowed the puck to leak through and the Islanders had their second one-goal lead of the night.

It could’ve been worse for the Bruins but Rask made a spectacular sprawling save on Matt Moulson with 10 minutes left in the second to keep the game tied, three minutes before Bailey’s second of the night put New York back on top.

Bailey looked for the hat trick with 5:45 left in the third but Rask made a save that kept the Bruins within one. The Bruins could not sustain any pressure in the Islanders end for most of the third period as the Bruins continued to all the opponent to rack up high shot totals. The Islanders finished with 36 shots on goal.

Rask was pulled with 1:23 left as the Bruins failed in their attempt to get the equalizer.

The Bruins are off Friday before taking on the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday night. For more from DJ Bean and Mike Petraglia from the Garden, visit the Bruins team page at weei.com/bruins.

The Bruins announced Thursday evening that left wing Brad Marchand suffered a “mild concussion” on the hit he took from Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov.

Volchenkov was given a four-game suspension for the play in which he elbowed Marchand in the head, forcing Marchand to leave the game. The Bruins’ announcement did not include how long they expect to be without their leading scorer, with general manager Peter Chiarelli saying in the two-sentence release that the B’s will “provide an update on his status when appropriate.”

Marchand leads the Bruins with 16 goals this season.

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.