WILMINGTON, Mass. — The Bruins had perfect attendance at practice Friday, including a fourth consecutive day of full participation by Zdeno Chara.
Chara sat out Thursday’s season-opening loss to the Winnipeg Jets as he continues to recover from an upper body injury suffered in the preseason. His status for Saturday night’s showdown with the Montreal Canadiens remains undetermined.
“He’s still day to day,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “So we’ll have to have a look at where he is (Friday), and we’ll move from there.”
Chara didn’t confirm when he’d be ready to return to game action, but he reiterated that he’s seeing daily improvement.
“Like I said, it’s getting better,” he said. “Every area of the injury’s improving. Hopefully, it’s not long before I’m going to be pretty much free of any kind of discomfort.”
Activating Chara would require the Bruins to make a roster move, as the 38-year-old defenseman currently is on injured reserve.
The lines and pairings for the roughly 45-minute session remained unchanged from those employed in Thursday’s 6-2 loss. Julien said he’d decide Friday whether any changes will be made for game No. 2.
“We’ll see (Friday),” he said. “That’s something we’ll have to look at. There’s a lot of question marks and a lot of different things.”
Defenseman Colin Miller and forwards Max Talbot and Tyler Randell were the three healthy scratches against Winnipeg.
Some additional notes from Friday’s practice:
— Winger Seth Griffith skated after practice with strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides. Griffith has not played since Sept. 20, when he suffered a lower body injury in the Bruins’ preseason opener.
— Jets center Alexander Burmistrov will not receive more than a warning from the NHL for his illegal hit to the head of Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, sources told Amalie Benjamin of The Boston Globe and Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com.
Bergeron picked up a roughing penalty for going after Burmistrov following the hit — a response winger Zac Rinaldo loved to see from one of the Bruins’ unquestioned leaders.
“A lot of guys in Bergeron’s situation, they would have dove,” Rinaldo said after Friday’s practice. “… And I told him, ‘I really appreciate you not going down like that. You’re not flopping around on the ice and acting like you’re hurt. Instead, you got up, and you dealt with your business like a grown man should — like a leader should.’ That was unbelievable on his part.”
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
