The Bruins turned up the intensity a bit at Saturday morning’s practice.
Two days before Boston’s first game of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Jim Montgomery had his team run through a high-intensity scrimmage during a training session at Warrior Ice Arena. While the scrimmage surely helped the Bruins stay sharp, it wasn’t the main reason why Montgomery opted for the exhibition.
“The reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we’re looking at (Nick) Foligno and (Derek) Forbort and we want to see where their conditioning at game speed is and how they react to that live and how their bodies adjust tomorrow (Sunday),” Montgomery told reporters, per a team-provided video.
Foligno hasn’t seen game action since Feb. 28, while Forbort has been out of the Bruins’ lineup since March 16. Both players on April 8 were placed on long-term injured reserve due to lower-body injuries. Foligno is hopeful to be available for Boston’s postseason opener, while Forbot as of Tuesday “still had boxes to check” before he could slot back into the defensive pairings.
Elsewhere on the Bruins injury front, Montgomery confirmed Presidents’ Trophy winners “don’t have any issues” with Linus Ullmark, who sustained a minor injury in his final regular-season start April 11.
Boston will embark on its playoff run Monday when it hosts the Florida Panthers for Game 1 of their best-of-seven series. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
