BOSTON -- Boston Bruins star defenseman Charlie McAvoy missed the squad's 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night but it sounds like that's the only time he'll miss.
McAvoy missed the tilt with Minnesota due to a lingering lower-body injury, but Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy made it sound like he'll be right back in the lineup Saturday night when Boston takes on the Tampa Bay Lightning. This seemed to be the case early Thursday when he was ruled out, but with additions made to the team's taxi squad, it raised question marks.
"We expect him back Saturday. That was the initial discussion today," Cassidy said. "Obviously tomorrow's a new day, but hopefully he's feeling better.
"That's more for travel circumstances. We want to make sure that when we get down to Tampa we don't have a positive test Saturday morning then have to fly a guy in. That's what it's there for. We're fortunate Providence is an hour away so at home we don't necessarily have to fill in and have the guys here because they can drive up for game time or even sometimes morning skate if need be. But on the road we want to cover ourselves. I expect Charlie will be good to go Saturday, but again let's visit it Saturday morning. That's not the reason why they were called up. We weren't concerned about him, we were concerned about getting people there as I just described in case something goes awry with the testing."
The Bruins will take Friday off and return to the ice Saturday night at Amalie Arena when Boston takes on the reigning two-time champion Tampa Bay Lightning with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
