Aside from a lot more lettuce sticking through his helmet, there wasn’t a whole lot different about David Pastrnak upon taking to the ice up in Toronto on Monday afternoon.
Even after being limited to just one skate at Warrior Ice Arena during Boston’s Phase 3 workouts, the B’s star winger looked no worse for wear in Boston’s first practice up in their “Phase 4 Secure Zone” — uncorking a number of shots from his usual spot at the left circle while participating in odd-man rushes with his regular linemates in Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1287853740201058311
“I thought he looked great,” Bruce Cassidy said of Pastrnak’s play. “Lots of energy, he was flying around. Thought it rubbed off on his linemates, shot looked good. … All in all, I’d give him an excellent grade. He seemed to be very excited to be there and happy to be with his teammates again.”
Given Pastrnak’s extended time away from the ice during Phase 3, Cassidy said that it remains to be seen if the 24-year-old forward will take part in Boston's exhibition matchup against the Blue Jackets on Thursday. However, just getting the reigning "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner back into the fold and up in Canada is already a victory in and of itself for both Boston and Pastrnak — especially given how he spent most of the previous month.
Speaking to the media for the first time since arriving back in the U.S., Pastrnak detailed what was ultimately a quarantine that lasted twice as long as expected — with the winger handed a pair of 14-day lockdowns upon flying back from Europe. While the initial 14-day lockdown was mandatory given his travels back stateside, he confirmed that the second 14-day stint was a direct result of taking part in a skate at a local rink up in Malden shortly after Phase 3 opened for the rest of the club at Warrior.
While Pastrnak, who was not cleared to practice with the rest of the B's roster at the time of his trek up to Malden, was not in any violation of league protocol by skating elsewhere before arriving at Warrior, he was forced to go back into quarantine after his agent confirmed that he might have come in contact with an individual that later tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was never sick. So I don't think I did anything wrong." Pastrnak said. "Obviously it's a tough bounce there and unfortunately what happened, happened and I had to miss some time. ... Unfortunately I had to be locked down at home for a while, but it's nothing I can control. Obviously, I take full responsibility for my actions and I'm sorry — but like I said, I'm finally back and I feel good out there and can't wait to be back with the boys."
Even if Pastrnak's wheels and tangible skills won't face severe erosion from a few more weeks off the ice, being on the outside looking in as the rest of his teammates geared up for a grueling playoff slate was still a tough pill to swallow. Still, even if Pastrnak is held out of Thursday's matchup against Columbus, don't be surprised if No. 88 is back up to speed and humming along with the rest of that top line by Sunday's round-robin matchup against the Flyers.
"The toughest part about it was that I was healthy for the whole quarantine," Pastrnak said. "But at the same time, I still couldn't do anything. So it was really tough and frustrating at the same time. It's a really long, long month. I'm really happy that that thing is over and I'm finally back with the guys. ... They're the reason why I came back to America from Europe — to finish this season.
Chara's absence a "one-time hiccup"
Despite missing Monday's practice due to a delayed result in his COVID-19 testing conducted on Sunday, Zdeno Chara returned to the ice Tuesday without any additional complications.
"For Zee, the test never came back," Cassidy said. "As I said before, I think they did a good job with the testing at Warrior. There's a lot going through every day. But, like I said, there was a few hiccups and we had one the other day for Zee. As of right now, he's scheduled to go on the ice. We're now in a different testing procedure here in Toronto, different companies. So so far, so good. I expect him to be out there unless he hears differently and then obviously he'll relay that to us. So I believe it's just a one-day hiccup for him and he should be back."
Along with Ondrej Kase — who did not travel with the club on Sunday — the Bruins were also without Nick Ritchie once again on Tuesday afternoon, with the power forward now ruled out for five straight practices. Whether it be injury, conditioning or another reason regarding Ritchie's absence, it seems as though Anders Bjork could earn himself a look next to Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly on Thursday against the Blue Jackets — a logical spot for the Notre Dame product, now that Pastrnak will slot back into his regular spot on the B's top line.
Here is the Bruins' lineup from Tuesday's practice:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Studnicka
Kuraly – Coyle – Bjork
Nordstrom – Lindholm – Wagner
Senyshyn/Frederic/Kuhlman
Chara – McAvoy
Krug – Carlo
Grzelcyk – Lauzon
Moore – Clifton
Vaakanainen – Zboril
Rask
Halak
Vladar
Lagace
Bruins to lock arms during anthems:
The Bruins' players released a collective statement on Tuesday afternoon, announcing that they plan to lock arms during both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems during the club's upcoming games "as a sign of solidarity with the Black community."
Here is the full statement from the club:
"Over the past several months we have been trying to educate ourselves and learn more about racial injustice in our country and around the world. As a team we have decided to lock arms during the playing of the United States and Canadian Anthems as a sign of solidarity with the Black community. This action is solely intended to be a positive sign of support for the Black community, and a way for us to use our platform to help end racism."
A number of Bruins have been active on this front in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the subsequent protests across the U.S. Back in June, Patrice Bergeron announced in a statement that he would donate $25,000 to the Boston branch of the NAACP and $25,000 to Centre Multiethnique de Quebec., while Chara took part in a peaceful protest in Brookline just a few days later.
The 2019-20 King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominees are:
Anaheim: Cam Fowler
Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Boston: Patrice Bergeron
Buffalo: Jack Eichel
Calgary: Travis Hamonic
Carolina: Jordan Staal
Chicago: Jonathan Toews
Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog
Columbus: Cam Atkinson
Dallas: Tyler Seguin
Detroit: Justin Abdelkader
Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl
Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky
Los Angeles: Trevor Lewis
Minnesota: Matt Dumba
Montreal: Carey Price
Nashville: Pekka Rinne
New Jersey: P.K. Subban
NY Islanders: Matt Martin
NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist
Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia: Kevin Hayes
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby
San Jose: Evander Kane
St. Louis: Ryan O'Reilly
Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn
Toronto: Mitchell Marner
Vancouver: Alexander Edler
Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury
Washington: Garnet Hathaway
Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler