Bruins Injuries: Brad Marchand Banged Up; Earliest Tuukka Rask Might Return

Marchand didn't practice Friday

The Boston Bruins might be down a couple more guys Saturday against the New York Rangers.

Zach Senyshyn is already set to miss some time due to an upper-body injury, and Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy also indicated that the status of Brad Marchand, who didn’t practice Friday, is up in the air for the Saturday matinee.

“A little bit of maintenance because he got banged up last night,” Cassidy said Friday. “I don’t want to speculate, I know Brad hates missing games, so we’ll see how he is in the morning, but he wasn’t able to practice today but hopefully he’s better tomorrow.”

Cassidy also offered an update on Tuukka Rask, who has been out with some discomfort that has lingered.

“Getting treatment, so again off, will not be available tomorrow,” Cassidy said. “Earliest would be the back-to-back (Monday and Tuesday) against Pittsburgh, assuming he gets back on the ice Sunday. Plan going forward is Jaro Halak will play on Saturday, and then obviously if Tuukka is not ready for the back-to-back then it would be either (Dan) Vladar or (Jeremy) Swayman.”

Vladar has been the one backing up Halak the last few games and is the only one between him, Swayman and Callum Booth that has any NHL experience. However, Swayman has been electric in the AHL this season.

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It’s a busy stretch for the Bruins upcoming, who will play three games in four days. That might lead to the ever-wise decision of taking the cautious approach when building the lineup — especially Saturday.