With just three skaters on the ice on Tuesday, it appeared as if nothing much was going on at Ristuccia Arena.
Try telling that to the weight room.
Injured skaters Marc Savard, Byron Bitz and Steve Begin were on the ice working with assistant coach Doug Houda while the rest of the team engaged in off-ice conditioning, better known in the hockey world as "dry land" training.
"We did some other things besides for dry land. You make sure that your days are constructive. We’ve played quite a few games and had a good practice yesterday," head coach Claude Julien told WEEI.com. "Today was about working in a different direction and kind of build up towards the weekend."
The squad also watched video and held meetings behind closed doors after the team went through an intense practice on Monday, just one day after losing their fifth straight contest.
Missing from that 5-1 loss to the NHL's worst team — the Hurricanes — were the three skaters at Tuesday's practice. Begin has been out since injuring himself over a week ago in Los Angeles but is optimistic about returning Friday when the B's battle the Sabres in Buffalo.
"I am feeling better, it is better every day," Begin said. "We will come in [Wednesday] and see, probably push more, maybe skate with the guys. It is just a lower-body injury. Nothing too big but we but we are coming along and hopefully I will be ready for this weekend."
Bitz, too has been out since the B's 4-3 shootout loss to the Kings. With him and the scrappy Begin out, the Bruins' attack has been lacking their usual physical punch.
"There are a lot of things in our game, including that physical aspect, that we have gotten away from, the staples of what makes us a good team," Bitz said. “I don’t know why. It is a good question and there is no easy answer. If we knew we would remedy it as quick as we can. It is something we are addressing and we know we have to be better at and we will."
