WILMINGTON, Mass. — David Krejci was absent from Friday’s Boston Bruins practice at Ristuccia Arena, but B’s head coach Claude Julien said his first-line center will play Saturday night when Boston hosts the Ottawa Senators.
Chris Kelly skated in Krejci’s normal spot alongside wingers Milan Lucic and Seth Griffith.
Krejci was seen in the locker room after practice and nothing looked wrong, so it might have just been a day off.
The 28-year-old center missed the first three games of the regular season with an undisclosed injury, and his return has significantly upgraded the team’s offensive production (more than two goals scored per game with him compared to without).
He leads the Bruins with nine points (three goals, six assists) in nine games, and his presence on the top line has improved Lucic’s offensive output quite a bit. Lucic failed to tally a single point without Krejci over the first three games and has since posted eight points (two goals, six assists) since his center’s return to the lineup.
These were the lines, pairings and goalies for practice:
Milan Lucic-Chris Kelly-Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Matt Fraser-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Simon Gagne
Dennis Seidenberg-Dougie Hamilton
David Warsofsky-Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow-Zach Trotman
Matt Bartkowski
Tuukka Rask, Niklas Svedberg
— Marchand tallied three points (two goals, one assist) in Thursday night’s 3-2 win over the Sabres, including the game-winner in overtime.
“I’ve bee trying to throw pucks at the net as much as I can, it’s something we’ve been working on,” Marchand said. “If you do that enough, eventually it’s going to go in, and luckily it did.
“I was getting frustrated. I thought I had a pretty decent camp, numbers were there and everything and I felt good. The season starts and I kind of flatlined. The pressure definitely builds, especially when we’re not winning and we’re not in the position we should be in. So it was nice to get a couple. Hopefully I can continue to help the team and be better.”
— Julien said Carl Soderberg had a “wrist problem” at the start of the season, and that was one reason why the Swedish forward didn’t take many faceoffs. Chris Kelly took most of the draws, especially those in the defensive zone, as part of the third line alongside Soderberg and Loui Eriksson.
— Joe Morrow made his NHL debut against the Sabres and played pretty well in 17:51 of ice time.
“I thought (Morrow) moved the puck well. He doesn’t seem to be rattled by anything,” Julien said. “For a guy who played in his first NHL game, the last thing he looked was nervous. He was so calm, made good plays. Yea, he made a few mistakes like everybody else during the period of a game, but I thought he handled himself well.”
Photo via Amber Pearls/USA TODAY Sports Images
