Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron was back practicing with the team at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday morning, one day before Boston plays host to the Florida Panthers for Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.
Bergeron, who missed the Bruins' first four playoff games with an upper-body injury, spoke to the media for the first time since being sidelined.
"Good, feeling good. Yeah, felt good on the ice today," Bergeron told reporters after Tuesday's practice, citing how he was able to ramp up with good pace and tempo.
When asked if he expects to play in Game 5, Bergeron added: "I mean, today's a good day. We'll see tomorrow how I feel. I'm not anticipating any setbacks. So far, so good."
Bergeron expressed how it was frustrating that he had to miss the start of Boston's playoff run. Bergeron hinted, as Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery did previously, the ailment was suffered during Boston's regular-series finale in Montreal. He called it "unfortunate" and noted how the injury was coincidental and could have happened the week prior, or at the start of the postseason.
"You want to be out there with the boys and battle and compete," Bergeron told reporters. "You go through a full season, you work hard to get to this point so obviously want to be out there. So it is frustrating. That being said, now we're here and the boys did a great job."
Montgomery told reporters Tuesday that Bergeron still has a few boxes to check, and the Bruins will see how he feels Wednesday with pregame skate in the morning. But the Bruins bench boss previously indicated that if Bergeron is healthy and cleared, he'll play in Game 5 despite Boston now holding a 3-1 series lead and recording a pair of road wins in Florida.
Puck drop at TD Garden on Wednesday is set for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.
