BOSTON — The Bruins got one player back for practice Wednesday at the Garden, but were still a man short.
Rich Peverley returned after missing his first game of the season on Monday with an undisclosed injury. He also missed two practices last week, but did play Saturday in Toronto before sitting out Monday's win over the Islanders.
Peverley's status for Thursday's matchup with Edmonton is still to be determined.
"I haven't talked to him," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after the workout. "I'll go through that stuff with the player and the trainers later, so I can't really give you an update, but just by watching him he looked OK. So we'll find out more and see whether he's able to play tomorrow."
Peverley did state that he was no longer in pain, but also maintained the company line in not revealing the exact nature of the injury.
"It felt good," Peverley said. "It's day to day, so I felt pretty good. It's something that I want to get better, so [the time off] was needed for me to play where I want to play. They felt the time off would be the best thing."
Peverley did admit that it was frustrating to miss Monday's game, especially with it coming just as the Bruins have started to turn things around and are in the midst of their first winning streak of the season.
"After playing two good games it was tough to come out, but it was great to see the guys win again [Monday] night," Peverley said. "I want to see us climb up those standings."
Daniel Paille, meanwhile, missed practice on Wednesday as he underwent surgery after taking a puck to the face in Monday's game.
"Danny had surgery this morning," Julien said. "He had a fractured nose and they were able to do surgery on him. He's day to day. [Depending on] how he recovers from that surgery, how quickly he does, he's obviously doubtful for [Thursday], and from there on in he'll be day to day."
While Peverley returned to his customary spot on the third line alongside Chris Kelly and Jordan Caron, Benoit Pouliot slid down to the fourth line in Paille's spot alongside Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton. That will likely be the alignment Thursday if Peverley is cleared to play. If Peverley can't go, Pouliot could go back to the third line and the Bruins would need to call up an additional forward from Providence.
"It's an energy line, and Ben is certainly capable of doing that if called upon to play on that line," Julien said. "A lot of it will depend on everything [Thursday] with Peverley and other things. [Pouliot]'s a guy that skates hard and forechecks and he's everywhere. That's what that line is all about, buzzing around and putting a lot of pressure on the other team, so I'm sure he'll fit in well. Thorny told him he got a promotion, so he feels pretty good about being there."
