Bruce Cassidy Overhauls Bruins Lineup In Practice After Loss To Penguins

The Boston Bruins are stumbling a bit, and Bruce Cassidy now is shaking things up.

Boston practiced Friday morning at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton just over 12 hours after their loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Bruins struggled to get much going offensively against the Pens, forcing Cassidy not only to shake up the lines in game, but also call out some of his top players afterwards.

So, fast forward to Friday’s practice, and Cassidy really changed things up.

Here’s how the Bruins skated.

Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Anders Bjork–Sean Kuraly–Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederic–Jack Studnicka–Zach Senyshyn/Chris Wagner

Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Jeremy Lauzon–Kevan Miller
Jakub Zboril–Steven Kampfer
Jarred Tinordi–Connor Clifton

You’ll see the Bruins welcome the return of Sean Kuraly, who had been on the COVID-19 list but was cleared to return Wednesday. That takes Anton Blidh out of the mix, leaving likely Wagner and Senyshyn to compete for the final winger spot.

Also, Kevan Miller draws back in with Brandon Carlo, who left Thursday’s game, out. Then, Steven Kampfer takes over for Connor Clifton.

Saturday is a 1 p.m. ET puck drop, meaning there won’t be a morning skate and, thus, this was the last practice. And while things could change between now and Saturday, this means it’s trending towards the above being the lineup Saturday for Game 2 against Pittsburgh.