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Familiar faces were back at Boston Bruins practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday.
Top-line center
Patrice Bergeron, who has missed the first three games of the season with a minor lower-body ailment, was back on the ice and in his usual spot on a line with
Brad Marchand to his left and
David Pastrnak on the right side, while defenseman
Adam McQuaid, also on the shelf for the opening three games of the season, participated as well.
“It was nice to be back on the ice with the guys,” Bergeron, who helped Canada win the 2016 World Cup of Hockey this fall, said of his return. “We’re just going by how I feel tomorrow. I felt really good on the ice, so hopefully it stays throughout the day and tomorrow morning and we’ll go from there.”
Although he did not join the Bruins on their three-game road swing, on which they went 2-1-0 and scored 11 goals in total, the 31-year-old Bergeron has skated by himself over the last two days.
“Before the Toronto game was when he decided it wasn’t necessarily worth it,” Bergeron, who did deal with an ankle injury of sorts for much of the second half last season, said of his progress. “We just figured it was kind of better to take the extra days and be ready for the upcoming games.”
Still, there’s no definitive update on Bergeron’s availability for tomorrow’s tilt.
But Bruins coach
Claude Julien sounds like a coach that plans on having his do-it-all pivot back in action for the club’s home opener on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils.
“I think he’s on track to play,” Julien said after practice. “Unless something or I’m told otherwise today or tomorrow he comes in and feels any different, I think we’re hoping he’s going to be in the lineup.
“He seemed OK today as far as I was concerned, so we’ll get a better idea of it by him playing.”
With Bergeron back,
David Backes dropped down to the second line with
David Krejci and
Danton Heinen, while center-turned-winger
Ryan Spooner took shifts on the fourth line with Noel Acciari, Dom Moore, and Tim Schaller.
“I think Spoons has looked fine,” Julien said of Spooner, who has one assist and seven shots in three games played, and his effectiveness on the wing after a move down two lines for practice. “He’s played [center and wing] at times, so I don’t think it’s been an issue.”
The Bruins will host the Devils at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can also be read in the New England Hockey Journal magazine. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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