BOSTON -- Adam McQuaid could have jumped back into the lineup against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, but the Bruins thought better of it given the circumstances. The 6-foot-5 defenseman missed Mondays game in Carolina while traveling to Prince Edward Island for his grandmothers funeral services, and then was grounded in Canada due to inclement weather as he tried to make it back to Boston.
The rangy blueliner actually slept at the airport on Monday night, and didnt get on a flight back to Boston until first thing on Tuesday morning. He arrived in time for a morning skate on the TD Garden ice Tuesday, but Julien thought that giving McQuaid one more day was the right thing under the circumstances.
We decided to give him another day. He got in Tuesday morning but you know slept at the airport last night. There were some cancellations and there wasnt much time between when he found out and when he had to leave so he basically slept in an airport, said Julien. And not having skated for a few days I thought it was more prudent, I guess, to let him skate a little bit and get a practice under his belt before we reinsert him.
So Aaron Johnson played 16:13 of ice time in his fourth appearance in the first six games, blocked a shot, threw out a couple of hits and put two shots on net in a decidedly solid performance. Its expected that McQuaid will jump back into the lineup when the Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at TD Garden.
McQuaid has zero points and one shot on goal to go with 11 PIMs while averaging 14:13 of ice time in four games thus far this season.