Clifton progressing, Nordstrom good to go
The Bruins are as close to full health and a complete roster as they’ve been all season.
Two of their most recent missing pieces, Connor Clifton and Joakim Nordstrom, are making strides and should both be back in the picture for good shortly.
Nordstrom, who missed the last three contests with allergy issues, skated in full and, according to Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, will be a full-go for tonight against the Canadiens.
Clifton, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Dec. 29 against the Sabres, but skated with the group and took full contact for the first time since he’s been out. He did skate in the red non-contact jersey on Friday before the Bruins back-to-back weekend.
He’s not ready to play tonight, but could be in the picture for the B’s fourth back-to-back of the month this upcoming weekend.
“I expect Nordstrom to play tomorrow,” said Cassidy. “(Clifton) skated with the team, has progressed well and no ill effects that I’ve heard of. He’s not going to play (against the Canadiens tonight). He’s not ready for that. But he keeps progressing for us.”
Jeremy Lauzon wasn’t at practice on Tuesday and still has a game left to serve of suspension for his match penalty against the Coyotes on Saturday. John Moore slotted in against the Red Wings, and should again against the Canadiens, with Clifton expected back for the weekend.
Clifton split time with Moore working with Matt Grzelcyk at practice on Tuesday.
“Felt really good, felt good to be back with the guys, first contact practice,” said
Clifton on Tuesday. “It was nice to get that under the belt. Progressing well. Hopefully soon. Just like anyone, you don’t want to really watch, you want to play. But injuries happen in this game. It’s part of the process. You’ve just got to battle through when you’re injured to get back.”
Halak update
Jaroslav Halak didn’t play his scheduled start on Sunday in Detroit due to an upper-body injury that flared up, but Cassidy doesn’t seem concerned long term.
“Just a little nagging thing that maybe if it’s a night game he gets through it in the morning and gets some treatment. I think it had something to do with the timing, as well,” Cassidy said. “Just a lot of bad things running together. I don’t believe it will be a problem. It does make us think, ‘How are we gonna schedule it this week, because he’s gonna play one of the two.’ “
Sunday’s game started at 12:30 p.m., an unusual game time with it airing on NBC, so Tuukka Rask had to play in back-to-back games.
They don’t want to have to always be in that situation, but for now, Cassidy believes Halak should be good to go in the other two back-tobacks before February ends.
“Maybe he just goes in Sunday, we set it up that way, he has a chance to get off the plane and relax and get his treatment the next morning,” said Cassidy.