B’s take hits in Rask, Spooner
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
There are many questions about the 2017-18 Bruins yet unanswered, but just five games in it seems as if they’re a team that can’t stand good news for long.
While Patrice Bergeron and David Backes are close to making their season debuts, the B’s took another hit to one of their key players in yesterday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. A woozy Tuukka Rask was helped off the ice after rookie Anders Bjork crashed hard into him during a drill while trying to take the puck to the net on his off wing.
Later in the day, the club announced that Ryan Spooner will miss 4-6 weeks with a torn right groin adductor suffered in Sunday’s loss in Las Vegas.
Coach Bruce Cassidy did not have any update or prognosis on the No. 1 goalie, but Rask was not able to return to practice and had to be assisted off the ice by the training staff.
“I don’t think anybody wants to run the goalie, whether it’s your first, second or third string,” said Cassidy. “It was incidental contact on a hard drill where we’re trying to build in more net action, net drive. That’s the spill over of it sometimes.”
Bjork, who appeared to have taken some contact from behind, suffered a gash on his chin as a result of the collision.
“I don’t really know what happened. There were a lot of bodies around there,” Bjork said. “It’s really unfortunate that happened, but I hope he’s OK. I wish I would have held up there but the game happens so fast that sometimes it happens before you can think.”
If Rask cannot go against the Canucks tonight at the Garden, Anton Khudobin would get the start with Zane McIntyre likely getting the call from Providence to be the backup. Khudobin has played well in four periods of work this year, notching the victory Saturday night in Arizona.
“It was all right (in Arizona),” he said. “I maybe had the butterflies in the first period, which was weird, to be honest. I’m like, ‘Why am I shaky right now? Nervous.’ It felt like I never played a game.
“But it was a good game, we got the ‘W,’ which is important. I felt good.”
As for Spooner, he has not found his footing as an even-strength player but his loss will be felt on the power play, where he quarterbacks the first unit from the half wall. Left-shooting winger Kenny Agostino, recalled from Providence yesterday, practiced in Spooner’s spot in the first unit.
Stars may come out
Neither Bergeron (lower body) nor Backes (illness) are ruled out against the Canucks. Though Bergeron seemed to be giving a hint that he’d return tonight by leading the post-practice stretch, Cassidy said that Backes is closer to full speed than Bergeron.
Bergeron still wore the red non-contact jersey in practice, but did not appear to be limited. He again came out on the ice before practice and did what appeared to be some strengthening exercises.
“How they approached it today was they were going to let him play it out by feel,” Cassidy said. “He was going to be non-contact, but if he was feeling pretty good in practice, they were going to let him stay a little longer. It wasn’t going to be a heavy contact day. I thought (Tuesday) we worked a little harder at it. Having said that, we had a collision at the net but I think that could happen any day. He seemed to prog- ress well, so he stayed in.”
With Spooner out, the B’s would be short at center if Bergeron does not go. Cassidy said they could deploy Backes at center or possibly look to Providence for another pivot.
Cehlarik promoted
Still in somewhat of a tryout mode with their young players, the Bruins made two call-ups from Providence in Agostino and left-shooting winger Peter Cehlarik. They made up two-thirds of the Baby B’s top line with center Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. At yesterday’s practice, they skated on a line with center Riley Nash. Agostino had two goals and five assists and Cehlarik had two goals and three assists in three AHL games.
Rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, the 22-year-old Cehlarik — listed at 6-foot-2, 202 pounds — did not have a chance to compete for a job in training camp but Cassidy likes the way he looks right now.
“I think it’s noticeable,” Cassidy said of Cehlarik’s added strength. “He came in as a thinner, leaner guy last year and he’s really bulked up. I think the injuries allowed him to do a little bit of that work. He looks . . . I don’t know if faster is the right word, but he looks more powerful on the ice with his stride, getting around. He looks more imposing as a man. Maybe he had a growth spurt because he is young. But at the end of the day, he’s used his time well from his injury this summer to bulk up. Hopefully it translates on the ice. So far it has in Providence. He’s dominated puck possession with his reach and body position. If he can use that here and we can have a big winger, that can help us. (Jake) DeBrusk and Bjork are different animals. This is a bigger man.”
The B’s last season went 8-3 with Cehlarik in the lineup but he was sent back to Providence with some defensive deficiencies . ...
Defenseman Adam McQuaid, who took a Colin Miller shot off the leg in Vegas, returned to practice and appears good to go . . . .
The other lines in practice were Bergeron between Bjork and Brad Marchand; David Krejci centering DeBrusk and David Pastrnak; Sean Kuraly centering Tim Schaller and Backes. A fifth line consisted of Frank Vatrano, Matt Beleskey and tryout Ryan White.