Bruins adjusting on the fly

The Bruins went back to practice on Monday and, in many respects, back to the drawing board after their first six periods of hockey have yielded just two goals from the normally explosive group.

The B’s are battling not only just the rust that’s accumulated from four-plus months of inaction, but also some choppy summertime ice conditions that have contributed to the slowdown of high-end skill teams like the Penguins and Maple Leafs as well as the B’s.

They certainly want to get their game back, but the B’s also need to acknowledge the conditions with which they’re battling. Coach Bruce Cassidy doesn’t want to make too much of the ice conditions, but he’s not ignoring them, either.

“It’s the same for both teams. (The Flyers) finished a play at the end of the second period when the ice wouldn’t have been good. A nice shot. You can still make plays out there. You can still shoot the puck, it’s just that you’re probably not going to be able to string three or four (passes) like you might be able to. The one-timers will be hopping around,” said Cassidy. “I expected that this time of year with that many strong, powerful skaters on the ice over the course of 12 hours is going to do some damage, no matter how good the ice crew is. It’s just something where you have to have a mindset going in. After playing a few games you hope it changes for us on Wednesday (against Tampa) a little more about taking a shot as opposed to making the extra pass. That’s just the way it is right now. We’ll see if it translates. We’ve addressed it. Players are creatures of habit. If they continue to do that, then we’ve got to make sure we connect on these and make sure we play some real good defense if for whatever reason we’re not executing those plays. But I hope it’s the other way, where our mindset is ‘Let’s shoot it until things do settle down in terms of our hands and maybe the ice does get better.’”

The top line’s struggles in the loss to the Flyers were front and center. On top of the rust and the ice, the Patrice Bergeron line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak was facing Selke candidate Sean Couturier‘s line. It was tough going, and the pinpoint precision on which the combo revolves is not there yet.

“We’re just going to have to, instead of forcing plays like we tend to do a lot — we try to make plays out of nothing — we’re going to have to get in deep a little more and work things down low and try to make our plays in deep,” said Marchand. “We do tend to want to be more of a rush line and create opportunities off the rush. But with the ice the way it is, it’s just too tough right now. We’re just going to have to simplify a little bit. We’re going to get our looks when they’re there and if they’re clear, we can make them. …

“We’re not necessarily concerned about he way the last couple of games have gone. When you’ve been off for (four-plus) months it’s going to take you a couple of games to get it back. But when we do, they’re going to come in bunches.”

It’s just a cough

Any signs of illness in our COVID-19 times are cause for a concern, but sometimes a cough is just a cough.

That is what has been ailing Tuukka Rask since he last played on Thursday in the exhibition game against Columbus. Protocols being what they are, his situation had to be taken seriously but Rask was able to return to practice on Monday.

“I had a cough, so I just clicked ‘Yes’ on the app. Then, all kinds of red lights started blinking, and I was quarantined for two days. They wanted to get two negative tests after that, and that’s it,” said Rask.

Rask said he should be ready for Wednesday’s game against the Lightning.

“At least I tested negative. I’m still coughing but I’m not too worried about that. As long as the tests came back negative, that’s all I care about. People have coughs but I guess in this day and age, anything like that could be alarming,” said Rask.

Tinkering with the lines

Cassidy reiterated that he believes Nick Ritchie, who missed a half dozen practices at the end of the Phase 3 and start of Phase 4, will be able to play on Wednesday but Ondrej Kase will most likely have to wait until Sunday’s game against the Capitals.

It was Kase’s first practice with the team on Monday and Cassidy tinkered with the lines a bit, trying the Ritchie-David Krejci-Kase line that was together at the time of the pause. Karson Kuhlman also saw some time as the right wing on that line.

That also moved Jake DeBrusk down to the right wing on Charlie Coyle‘s line with Anders Bjork on the left side.

“(DeBrusk) has had some decent games with Coyle,” said Cassidy. “I liked Anders on the left side (Sunday) better than the right wing the other night. For whatever reason, he finds the puck a little more off the wing. I could always flip him with Jake. I asked Jake to try the right side today. He and Krech (Sunday) night — again, we didn’t generate much offense — but they didn’t have much going. Ritchie’s a bigger guy. I had him with Krech toward the end before the pause. Kuhlman’s played with Krech on the right side. Obviously Kase is a guy we want to see there. And we’re hoping before the playoffs do start we can get at least one game out of him there and see how it goes.”

Cassidy, however, doesn’t sound like he’s married to any combo in his middle six just yet.

“Those guys are all good players — DeBrusk, Ritchie, Bjork — so wherever they end up, we just expect them to take care of themselves right now,” said Cassidy. “We’re two games in, an exhibition and a round robin game, after a long pause so it’s more about every individual has to get their game together and then the team stuff will come.”

Bergeron, who participated all the full team practices in Phase 3 and 4 so far, was given a maintenance day on Monday. Cassidy said he’s fine and will be back on the ice on Tuesday.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3k8mHjV