Why Charlie McAvoy Missed Practice Day After Bruins-Devils Game

Charlie McAvoy was not on the ice for practice Wednesday, and while it technically was a health-related matter, it’s nothing that will keep him out of game action.

McAvoy didn’t take part in Wednesday’s skate ahead of Thursday’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden. Seeing as the Bruins had announced at the beginning of practice that Tomas Nosek was on the COVID-19 list, with no other players named, it was fairly easy to speculate that McAvoy wasn’t out for a COVID matter.

That was indeed the case.

“Just maintenance,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said over Zoom after practice. “Some shot-blocks — I think it was in Detroit, maybe back-to-back with Buffalo — so he played through it yesterday, obviously, but needed a day to calm it down. He’ll be good to go tomorrow.”

McAvoy was credited with one blocked shot in Saturday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres, none Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings but four in Tuesday’s win over the New Jersey Devils.

That’ll do a number on the body, but it sounds like concerns are minimal.