WILMINGTON, Mass. — After beating the Capitals 3-1 in Washington on Tuesday night, the Bruins got to sleep in a bit on Wednesday with an afternoon workout at Ristuccia Arena instead of their usual morning practice.
One Bruin got a little more rest, as captain Zdeno Chara was the only player not to take the ice for the practice.
There’s nothing to be concerned about though, as Bruins coach Claude Julien was simply giving Chara a breather after an arduous night against Alex Ovechkin and Co., with a rematch against the Caps coming up on Thursday.
“It was just a maintenance or a rest day,” said Julien. “He played 30 minutes in the game [Tuesday], so it was more that.”
Chara led all skaters with 29:05 of ice-time on Tuesday, and he’ll log plenty more minutes again on Thursday.
While Chara spent the afternoon off the ice in Wilmington, the rest of the Bruins spent most of the practice working on their struggling power play.
After the workout, a few Bruins took some extra time to work on other parts of their game. The most entertaining was a playful bout between Brad Marchand and Adam McQuaid, who dropped the gloves and engaged in a lengthy wrestling match.
Both combatants were smiling throughout and they both pulled their punches, but there was a more serious reason behind the bout beyond simple horseplay. If Marchand if going to continue to play the agitating style the Bruins want out of him, he is occasionally going to have to answer for his antics, so a few pointers from an accomplished scrapper like McQuaid can only help.
Of course, Marchand would be wise to stick to his own weight class, as the much larger McQuaid easily rag-dolled him and could have put a serious beating on him if he was actually following through on his punches.
