When the Bruins took the Warrior Ice Arena sheet for his or her first post-season apply on Saturday, there was a one notable absence. Soon, a second key participant would depart the session early.
Captain Patrice Bergeron, who left the common season finale in Montreal with what was termed an “upper body” damage, didn’t go well with up whereas his long-time linemate Brad Marchand left after a number of twirls and line rushes.
But the phrase of the week – “precautionary” – held for an additional day.
“We’re just giving (Bergeron) extra rest. He’s had a long year. Same thing with Marchie,” stated coach Jim Montgomery. “Marchie wanted to give it a try today and he…had a little bit of soreness so I said ‘Get off the ice.’ And we knew it was going to be a hard practice, so I was going to be very cautious. (Matt Grzelcyk) is a little sore, so he didn’t partake in the scrimmage portion of it. It’s just precautionary. The reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we’re looking at (Nick) Foligno and (Derek) Forbort. We want to see where their conditioning and game speed is and how they react to that live, and then how the bodies adjust (Sunday).”
Montgomery stated that Bergeron has been battling a nagging damage. While it was introduced as an higher physique damage, the NESN broadcast of the Montreal sport confirmed the captain stretching out his left leg whereas on the bench. What precisely it’s anybody’s guess. During the road rushes, Pavel Zacha stuffed in for Bergeron between Jake DeBrusk and Marchand.
“It’s something he’s dealt with before and he knows how to deal with it,” stated Montgomery….
A few necessary participant did return to apply. One was goalie Linus Ullmark, who set off panic buttons all over the place when he left Tuesday’s sport with a decrease physique damage he appeared to undergo on a post-to-post push-off. He didn’t apply with the group on Wednesday or journey to the season finale in Montreal.
“We don’t have issues with him. He was out there in practice and I thought he performed well,” stated Montgomery.
Several weeks in the past, Montgomery stated that Ullmark was going to be the Game 1 starter after which they’ll go from there. Asked on Saturday if Ullmark would nonetheless be Monday’s starter towards the Florida Panthers, Montgomery demurred.
“I’ll let (goalie coach Bob Essensa) make a decision and I’ll let you know on Monday,” stated the coach.
Now, was that Montgomery merely placing on his playoff-mode hat or was it precise vacillation? You be the decide. But the post-season intrigue has begun. Ullmark didn’t converse with with reporters on Saturday.
David Krejci, who missed the final six common season video games, was additionally a full participant in apply skating between Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak.
Foligno was on the fourth line with Tomas Nosek and Garnet Hathaway. Forbort skated on a 3rd protection pairing with Connor Clifton whereas Grzelcyk was on a fourth pair with Jakub Zboril.
How that performs out stays to be seen.
“I thought Foligno looked really good. I thought there was a little rustiness on Forbort,” stated Montgomery.
All issues thought-about, Montgomery put a constructive spin on his group’s total well being.
“We’re happy with our health right now, considering the long year,” he stated. “We have some forwards that are old, our D corps is relatively young and really good. But we have some (older) forwards and that’s why we took the precautionary (route) with us having a couple of days rest.”…
The B’s house report speaks for itself. They set a report for wins with a 34-4-3 mark on the Garden. But a few of their most difficult video games have include at the very least two days off prior. Their first regulation at house to Seattle got here after three days off, their second regulation defeat got here on the primary sport after the All-Star break and a 3rd regulation loss to Edmonton occurred after 4 full days off.
The B’s will likely be engaged on three days with out taking part in a sport for Game 1 on Monday. They scored three objectives in these three video games.
“You worry about being in a rhythm in a lot of those,” stated Montgomery. “Almost every one of those, we gave two days off and physiologically, giving two days off isn’t good. But when you’re trying to get through the regular season, such a long year, it has the added potential of how much it helps players recover and how good we feel for the length of the season, so nagging injuries heal a little more with two days off. I don’t think this is the same case. We had one day off…We don’t think it’s going to be any issue at all for being rusty in he first period.”…
Florida goalie Alex Lyon, thought-about the back-up to Sergei Bobrovsky,carried the Panthers down the stretch and it’s an excellent guess he’d get the primary shot towards the B’s.
“He’s had a great two-month run here with Florida. He might be the biggest reason they’re in the playoffs. He’s a confident goalie that we’re going to have to get in front of and make sure he has a hard time finding the puck like he’s been seeing it,” stated Montgomery…
While the B’s have performed Dmity Orlov on a 3rd pair typically down the stretch, they loaded him up on the highest pair with Charlie McAvoy in Saturday’s apply…
Presuming Bergeron can come again and Foligno can play, that may go away a tricky choice for Montgomery. The most rational alternative to come back out could be for Trent Frederic, however being logical doesn’t make it simple. Frederic had a profession excessive 17 objectives and his confidence in holding on to the puck has vastly grown. Such is life on an extremely deep group.
Source: www.bostonherald.com