BOSTON — The Bruins continued their preparation for the Eastern Conference final with an intense practice at the TD Garden on Thursday.
They went through a number of battle drills and other exercises to ready themselves for their showdown against Tampa Bay, but they did it once again without center Patrice Bergeron.
The Bruins' leading playoff scorer remains sidelined after suffering a mild concussion in Game 4 against Philadelphia last Friday. There is still no timetable for his return, but the Bruins remain cautiously optimistic.
"He's still going through the protocol," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after practice. "All I can say is he keeps progressing on a daily basis."
That progress hasn't led to any physical activity yet. Bergeron hasn't skated since the injury and has not done any physical activity off the ice either, which are all steps he'll have to get through symptom-free before any return to game action can even be considered.
"He hasn't been on the ice, he hasn't done any of that stuff yet," Julien said. "So we're keeping our fingers crossed that things will start being clearer and more optimistic here as we keep moving forward."
