No sense of urgency yet for Pastrnak/Kase absences, maintenance days ahead & more takeaways from Day 2 of Bruins camp

The Bruins continued their rapid ramp-up toward playoff hockey on Tuesday morning, with the club participating in Day 2 of its Return To Play camp. Here are a few takeaways from Tuesday’s on-ice session. 

Pastrnak, Kase still absent

For the second day in a row, the Bruins were without a pair of their top-six wingers, as David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase were both not spotted on the ice. A number of skaters who did not participate on Monday did make an appearance, with Anton Blidh, Urho Vaakanainen, Dan Vladar and Max Legace all present and accounted for. 

Along with Pastrnak and Kase, Trent Frederic was not spotted on the ice during Tuesday's full-group workout, but the Providence skater appeared at Warrior later Tuesday afternoon, working with skating and skills coach Kim Brandvold. 

While the new parameters involved with reporting injuries prevents teams from shedding much light on player absences in this Return To Play plan, Bruce Cassidy did note that he expects both Pastrnak and Kase will be given the green light to return as soon as Wednesday, with the wingers likely held up due to international quarantine protocols set in place.

"What happens with some of these guys, again, 'unable to practice or unfit', whatever the terminology is — is all-encompassing," Cassidy said. "They weren't on the ice today. Some of that has to do with the timing of testing, returning from Europe, etc. So it's not necessarily an injury or a positive test in a lot of these cases. Tomorrow, I'm anticipating they'll skate."

With Pastrnak and Kase both out, the Bruins switched up their top-six grouping again during rushes — with Anders Bjork skating in place of Pastrnak on Boston's top line, while Karson Kuhlman logged minutes with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.

Here is the lineup from Tuesday's practice:

Marchand – Bergeron – Bjork
DeBrusk – Krejci – Kuhlman
Ritchie – Coyle – Kuraly
Nordstrom – Lindholm – Wagner
Carey – Studnicka – Senyshyn
Blidh

Chara – McAvoy
Krug – Carlo
Grzelcyk – Lauzon
Moore – Clifton
Vaakanainen

Rask
Halak
Vladar
Legace 

No urgency needed for missing skaters - yet

The Bruins don't necessarily have an extended window to shake the rust off and brace themselves for a long playoff run, with the club expected to pack up their bags and head up to Toronto on July 26 — jumping into round-robin play just a week later. As such, any extended absences, whether it be due to injury or quarantine, could be awfully detrimental to any player looking to get up to speed before diving headfirst into playoff hockey.

Still, as it pertains to both Pastrnak or Kase, Cassidy believes both skaters should be able to avoid being behind the eight ball if they're able to return within the next couple of days. 

"I think missing them early, if you've been doing some off-ice work or skating on your own, wherever you've been, you can catch up," Cassidy explained. "If you were to miss a full week when Return to Play practices are only going to be two weeks — now you're talking 50% of the time off. So it will affect you. Some guys can certainly make up the ground quicker than others. That's just the way some guys are wired. Missing a day or two here or there or maintenance, I don't think will affect you a ton. Unless you're that guy that mentally needs an exact routine.

"That'll be the effects here. I think once we get to Toronto, if you start missing time for whatever reason, it becomes more paramount, because now it's the details of the team, getting ready through those last few three or four practices where you start focus a little more on the opposition, little things here and there. Then I think it hurts you more. But right now, I think there's opportunity to catch up. You can build in some extra reps for guys if need be, longer skates after, extra-long workouts. There's time for that now but as we get closer, that becomes less and less, and then I think the effect becomes greater and greater on the player trying to play catch up."

As for any second-guessing of Pastrnak and Kase's decision to not head back from Europe sooner, Cassidy noted that participation for any player in Phase 2 was optional, while both players — who were able to get back on the ice in the Czech Republic during the lockdowns in the U.S. — should be able to get back up to speed in short order.

"I don't know what was possible for them, I'll be perfectly honest. I think the players, all along, were entitled to return when they saw fit," Cassidy said. "I think Phase 2 was voluntary to come back. Let's just assume they get back in the mix Thursday with the group. I don't think they'll be that far behind. I think some European countries, if I'm not mistaken, were free to skate earlier. So they might have had the benefit of skating while some of the guys couldn't here, the arena's weren't open or the state didn't allow people to get together. ... I don't hold it against them."

 

Maintenance Day on tap

While Cassidy said that the team could begin taking part in a few scrimmages later on this week, Wednesday will likely be a light session — with a number of players in line to receive maintenance days — especially among the group of players that were regular participants during voluntary workouts at Warrior during Phase 2 from early June through the past weekend.

"We're going to give some of the guys have been skating here a lot a maintenance day," Cassidy said. "So we'll have more of a full group on Thursday, anticipate more players will be joining that group. As I said yesterday, more joined today. So, again, I'm hoping Thursday that we'll pretty much have our full body count."

Rask leaves for a moment

The Bruins had a brief scare early in Tuesday’s practice, as Tuukka Rask left the ice after a puck struck him during a drill. Any injury during a rapid ramp-up like this in Phase 3 would be disastrous for Boston — but breathe easy, as Rask was back on the ice a few minutes later. It wasn’t a fun day for the goalies as a whole, as Jaroslav Halak was also knocked to the ice after Joakim Nordstrom collided with him in the crease during a 2-on-2 drill. Halak spent the start of the following drill on the bench while Vladar handled duties in net, but the B's primary backup goalie finished practice without any additional restrictions.

Not too many major highlights from the 45-minute full session on Tuesday, which was followed by some extended skills drills to wrap up the morning's work. The veteran core of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Torey Krug held court for a few minutes at center ice once the main practice wrapped up, while Krug and Connor Clifton later jokingly got into a scrap shortly before heading off the ice. No need for social distancing when out on the ice, apparently.

Times announced for exhibition game, round-robin games: 

Once the Bruins head up to Toronto, the club will take part in one exhibition game before round-robin play begins on August 2nd — with the club slated to battle the Blue Jackets on Thursday, July 30 at 7 p.m.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1283162554207023104

In addition, here are the start times for the first two round-robin games that the Bruins will take part in:

??. Flyers | Aug. 2 – 3 p.m. ET
??. Lightning | Aug. 5 – 4 p.m. ET