The Boston Bruins really can’t catch a break.
The B’s had a chaotic stretch of days last week between injuries, trade requests, suspensions and their head coach getting COVID-19, but they walked away from it with a 1-1-1 record. They’re now set to leave for a Western Canada road trip, which begins with Wednesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Monday’s practice almost looked like an optional practice since so many players were out. Instead, a variety of issues kept them all out, and it’s probably easiest to just itemize Joe Sacco’s updates to reporters below.
— Patrice Bergeron had a maintenance day. He ended up breaking his nose against the Nashville Predators and had to get it reset.
— Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie Coyle, Linus Ullmark and Tomas Nosek all missed practice with a non-COVID illness.
— Charlie McAvoy, who didn’t play in Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning because of a non-COVID illness, skated by himself before Monday’s practice.
— Anton Blidh, who was injured last Sunday against the Canucks, took part in practice in a red non-contact jersey.
— Bruce Cassidy is getting better, but has not yet cleared COVID protocol, so he won’t be with the team at the beginning of the trip. He’s day-to-day.
Got all of that?
Also of note is the Bruins calling up John Moore, while Tuukka Rask took part in the practice, despite not having a contract.
The Bruins were originally scheduled to fly to Vancouver on Monday, but they pushed it back to Tuesday with so many players sick.
