Here are your daily news and notes from the Bruins’ morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena Tuesday. The Black and Gold will face off against the Calgary Flames Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Puck drop is set for 9:30 p.m.
Goalie rotation continues
While the B’s practice lineup didn’t change from what the team rolled out during Saturday’s win over the Red Wings (with Danton Heinen still subbing into the third line for Ryan Donato occasionally during rushes), Bruce Cassidy did confirm that Tuukka Rask will get the nod in net for the second game in a row — starting Wednesday’s matchup against the Calgary Flames.
“They’re going to split,” Cassidy said of his goalies over the next two games. “Tuukka is going to start tomorrow in Calgary and (Jaroslav Halak) will play in Edmonton. From there, I’ll let you know Friday on who’s going on Saturday (against Vancouver). I don’t know if they’ll split the next two or keep going. I kind of looked at it, but that’s the immediate plan.”
In his career against the Flames, Rask is 6-0-3 with a .942 save percentage and a 1.57 GAA. Halak posted a win against Edmonton last week, stopping 25 of the 26 shots that came his way in Boston’s 4-1 win.
Torey Krug progressing from ankle injury
While the B’s blue line has impressed as the season has rolled along, the Black and Gold are set to get a playmaking lift in the next couple of weeks with the return of Torey Krug, who has been sidelined by an ankle injury that he suffered in Boston’s preseason finale.
Confined to a walking boot for the past two weeks, Krug is getting closer and closer to a return out on the ice, with Cassidy noting that there’s a chance the 27-year-old defenseman might return to practice with the team during the final leg of Boston’s four-game trip up to Canada.
“Torey is progressing well,” Cassidy said. “May skate this week, so if he gets on the ice at some point this week, that’s always a step in the right direction. Once he’s on the ice, we’ll probably get a better idea of when the contact comes and so on. … He’s not going on the trip.
“I guess if he gets on the ice here while we’re gone and progresses and could practice with us somewhere along the line, but I don’t think he’d go to Vancouver to practice. Maybe it’s Ottawa, but my guess is that he’ll stay here and get his feet under him. Hopefully, he gets on the ice and that’s step one and he can join us when we get back.”
Of course, once Krug comes back, the question is then which member of the Black and Gold’s D corps sits? Not an easy choice for Cassidy and Co. to make.
Stempniak still not signed
While he has been a regular presence during practices at Warrior Ice Arena, it appears that a spot on the Bruins’ roster isn’t in the cards for veteran forward
Lee Stempniak
.
Stempniak, 35, who joined the Bruins on a PTO during camp and tallied two goals and five points over Boston’s final two preseason games, will not travel with the team on its trek to Canada — with Cassidy noting that
Don Sweeney
and the Bruins management wanted to give the winger a definitive answer on his status before heading out on the road.
“He skated today,” Cassidy said of Stempniak. “He’s not going to go on the trip. Donnie had a conversation with him. We’re going to stick with what we have right now. So he won’t be signed. Where that goes from here — he may want to stay in the area and skate. So I don’t know from there what his decision will be.
“I don’t know what his other options are. We’ve said to this point, once we go on the trip, we want to be upfront with him with an answer. Right now, we’re not going to sign. That’s the answer today. Who knows what happens in two weeks if he’s still available. We like the work he did, we’re just sticking with what we have.”
The Bruins’ have enough roster juggling to do up front with trying to get a player like Heinen back in the lineup, though Stempniak had the potential of being a reliable, veteran 13th forward on this club — a role that the B’s always seem to be in search for during the weeks leading up to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
