WILMINGTON, Mass. –- The Bruins continued their preparations for their opening-round playoff series with Washington with another long practice Tuesday at Ristuccia Arena.
Once again, there was nearly full attendance for the workout, with only Adam McQuaid missing. He remains out with what coach Claude Julien categorized on Monday as an "upper body" injury. McQuaid was initially injured March 29 against the Capitals on a hit by Jason Chimera. McQuaid needed 18 stitches around his eye and when he returned April 5 at Ottawa, he left early after he told the training staff he "didn't feel quite right."
Johnny Boychuk and Tuukka Rask both participated fully in Tuesday's workout after rejoining their teammates on Monday. Boychuk is working his way back from a mild knee sprain and expects to be ready for Thursday's playoff opener. Rask is coming back from an abdominal/groin tear and is also hopeful of being ready to return soon.
It's an encouraging sign that both were back on the ice Tuesday and did not suffer any apparent setbacks from Monday's workout, but Julien did not offer much new information on any of the injuries on Tuesday.
"Injury update is the same as yesterday," Julien said after practice. "Nothing's changed. That's where we are."
As for practice itself, the Bruins' lines and defense combinations also remained unchanged, with the forwards lining up as follows:
White: Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Yellow: Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Gray: Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Brian Rolston
Maroon: Daniel Paille/Jordan Caron-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Defense pairs:
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boycjuk
Greg Zanon-Joe Corvo/Mike Mottau
Tim Thomas, Anton Khudobin and Rask shared the duties in goal.
While the lines remained the same, the Bruins did unveil some new power-play combinations as they seek to spark a man-advantage that finished the season 2-for-21 in the final 10 games of the season. The new first unit consisted of Chara and Corvo on the points with Lucic, Krejci and Rolston up front, while Seidenberg and Peverley manned the points on the second unit with Marchand, Bergeron and Seguin up front.
Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.
