How Bruins Are Managing Huge Breaks Between Games Early In Season

The Bruins season is off to a slow start — and we’re not talking about the team’s 4-3-0 record.

Boston fans were forced to wait until the fifth day of the NHL season before the Bruins played their first game — then it was four days after that before Game 2. Things picked up a bit in the last week of October, as the Bruins played six games in 11 days, including a back-to-back against the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes on the road.

But now, they’re off for four full days before Thursday’s tilt against the Detroit Red Wings. Have no fear, because that precedes a stretch of five games in eight days, a five-day break, then a back-to-back in the midst of the next set.

You get the idea (and good thing, because this sort of thing doesn’t stop at all this season.)

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy seemed to have mixed feelings toward the scheduling in speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

“You’re gonna value this time at some point,” he said, as shown in the team-provided video. “It helps you recover…But at the end of the day, the season’s here, it’s starting. You want to get playing and play on a regular basis.”

Still, Cassidy noted that there are some challenges from a coaching standpoint.

“The challenge for us is keeping everybody ready, using practice efficiently,” he said. “We’re trying to do that but until we play a few games it’s hard to tell where we’re at.”

The Bruins finally return to the ice Thursday at home at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch all the action, including pre- and postgame coverage, live on NESN.