Thanks in part to what effectively was a bye week, Mike Reilly had to wait a long, long time to get back into the Boston Bruins lineup.
Reilly had been playing beneath his capabilities early in November, and head coach Bruce Cassidy had enough after the Nov. 11 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The defenseman was healthy scratched the next two games, but was inserted back into the lineup for Saturday’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Skating on a pairing with Jakub Zboril, Reilly got back to doing what he does well. The 28-year-old was effectively moving the puck out of the defensive zone and not sandbagging his partner with all the puck battles while also being active in the offensive zone.
“I thought he had a good response,” Cassidy told reporters Sunday morning. “He was more on his toes, trying to get the puck up ice, not slowing the game down. He did a good job of that. We’re trying to do that as a team in general, get in and out of our end and use some of our pace on the wings.
“I think there were some opportunities when we did that well last night, and he was part of that. That’s part of his game. I thought he was trying to be more competitive when it was his team. Yeah, he did a good job.”
Reilly is an important part of the Bruins defense, so they need him to be active and playing his best. He’ll be back in the lineup Sunday night as Boston hosts the Calgary Flames at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN, with pregame coverage beginning at 6.
