The Bruins thrived off their depth in the regular season, capturing records on top of more records. One player who stands out in that depth is Taylor Hall.
Hall missed 20 games stemming from a lower-body injury he suffered in the 3-1 Boston win over the Vancouver Canucks on February 25. The winger made his way back into the lineup in the Black and Gold's 2-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils on April 8.
The 31-year-old left-wing spoke to reporters following the team's optional skate at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday and discussed how it was beneficial to come back for a few games prior to the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"Just the pace, the timing of the game," Hall told reporters, per the team. "Honestly, to get into those games and make mistakes and put yourself in spots that you don't want to be in and correct those."
The 2018 Hart Trophy winner explained that having the time to review the video of his game leading up to the postseason gave him the opportunity to make corrections and get himself ready for Game 1 of the best-of-seven against the Florida Panthers.
"Hockey, it's a tough game," Hall said. "There's a lot of reading and reacting. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. No game is ever going to be perfect. You gotta live with mistakes, and move on to the next shift and the next game."
The Bruins, without team captain Patrice Bergeron, defeated the Panthers 3-1 on Monday night to take the 1-0 series lead. And while Hall did not register a point, he impacted Boston with three takeaways, one hit and a block in 12:57 of ice time.
With the status of Bergeron unknown, Boston might have to rely on their depth again in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
"Over the course of this playoff series and hopefully a playoff run," Hall said, "there's going to be bad stuff that happens individually and as a team, and you rally around each other."
Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, and NESN.com will bring you all the in-depth analysis and game action throughout the playoffs. You can watch all of the first-round games on NESN.
