Rest assured 1 is best
Bruins focus on winning East
SUNRISE,Fla. — The Bruins have three regularseason games left. The top spot in the Eastern Conference is in their control, but chances are they’ll need to capture five of the final six points available.
The No. 1 seed is no joke. The B’s would be guaranteed home-ice advantage for at least for the first three rounds of the playoffs, if they’re fortunate enough to go that far. Though there are no easy opponents no matter where the Bruins finish, the top seed would keep them out of a difficult first-round matchup with Toronto.
On the other hand, the B’s have shown some signs in their past two games — an overtime loss in Philly and a beat-down in Tampa — that their brutal schedule down the stretch is exacting its toll. Some players might do well with some rest during the weekend when the team finishes up with back-to-back games against Ottawa and Florida at the Garden.
Coach Bruce Cassidy is not thinking about resting anybody just yet. After practice yesterday, he maintained the “next game” mentality that’s worked so well for his team.
“We’re going to try to beat Florida (tonight), to be honest with you. We’re going to decide on the rest accordingly,” Cassidy said. “We’re going to talk to players individually. Some of the guys who’ve played a lot of hockey are out, one permanently (Brandon Carlo), (Sean) Kuraly, Riley Nash, they’ve played a lot. They’re out, so they’re getting their rest now, for lack of a better term. (Zdeno Chara) and Charlie (McAvoy) got some time off, (Patrice Bergeron and David Backes).
“Yeah, you’ve got some guys like (Tim) Schaller, (David Pastrnak) and (Brad) Marchand who’ve played a lot of hockey, though (Marchand) had a bit of break. (Torey) Krug, (Matt Grzelcyk), (Kevan) Miller, we’ll monitor that going forward. We’ve tried to limit practice time. Today we went on, tomorrow we’ll have an optional (morning skate). We just felt there were some things we needed to work on. I’ll probably be able to answer it better on Saturday, so there is no plan. We’ll go with the healthy guys tomorrow.”
Cassidy did say he might rethink his original plan of giving Tuukka Rask the two weekend games off after his scheduled start tonight against the Panthers, who still are in the playoff hunt after beating the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
“He could get an extra game. I think we’ve handled his workload pretty well through the course of the year in terms of not over-playing,” Cassidy said. “That’s one where if he feels, and we feel he should, then he will. If not, then we’ll just play him tomorrow and get ready for next week.”
Asked about the workload for the last three games of the regular season after the game Tuesday, Rask said: “Doesn’t matter. It’s fine.”
As Cassidy alluded to, some of the B’s key players already have had some forced vacations because of injuries — Bergeron, Chara, McAvoy, Backes — but there are some who’ve lugged a heavy load.
Marchand has missed 14 games this year because of injuries and suspension, but his average ice time in 2017-18 is considerably higher than his career average (19:43 to 17:11), and he helped to carry the team offensively, along with Pastrnak, when Bergeron was out for a month because of a broken foot.
But like Cassidy, he kept his focus on the Panthers.
“We want to be ready for the playoffs, and that’s making sure that everyone’s at the top of their games. To do that, you have to play,” Marchand said. “You have to have your mind in it all the time. To play against teams like Florida that are fighting for their lives, it’s a playoff-type game. They play hard, they play fast. And that’s what we’re going to be seeing in the playoffs.
“Obviously, we’re trying to win and finish in that top seed, but I think it’s about building that game to make sure we’re playing the right way going into the playoffs. If they choose to rest guys, that’s up to them.”
While saying it’s been a long run, Torey Krug is set to play through Sunday.
“If that’s what it takes, I think all of us are prepared to do that. Then we’ll have three or four days in between games and Game 1,” Krug said. “But there’s a lot of hockey to be played before we start thinking about that. We’ll just take it one game at a time, and it’s a chance to rebound (tonight against Florida). We didn’t really feel great about our game against Tampa, so we have a chance to fix it.”
Bruins notes
Tommy Wingels, who missed Tuesday’s game after getting slashed on the hand, practiced with the team today and will be a game-time decision . . . .
Back home in Boston, Rick Nash (upper body) skated for the second straight day, and there’s a possibility he could play this weekend. He’s missed the past nine games . . . .
Neither Riley Nash, who was gashed on the ear in Saturday’s win, nor Kuraly (upper body), have resumed skating . . . .
Adam McQuaid skated with Krug in practice and could be inserted into the lineup. If that happens, either Nick Holden or Grzelcyk would be scratched.