TAMPA BAYThe Bruins are starting to regain the health of their players, but the question is whether it can happen quickly enough.
Both Patrice Bergeron (lower body) and Adam McQuaid (upper body) were supposed to take part in the pregame warm-up prior to Tuesday nights game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Both made it through morning skate without incident, but only Bergeron appeared in both the warm-up and the game on the Tampa Times Forum ice. McQuaid was sent to the hospital during Sundays game after taking a heavy hit from Pittsburgh power forward James Neal, and the upper body injury stemming from that hit cropped up on him prior to game time against Tampa Bay.
Before the game McQuaid wasnt okay. He was getting ready to go and we pulled him of the warm-up, said Julien.
So McQuaid was held back and Greg Zanon played in his place as the sixth defensemen in a game that was essentially lost as soon as it had begun.
With the Bs next game against the Florida Panthers set for Thursday night at BankAtlantic Center, there is no big rush for McQuaids return. The Bruins have good depth along the blueline with Zanon and Mike Mottau.
In the better news department: Rich Peverley is scheduled to hit the ice on Wednesday afternoon to skate on his own as he attempts to recover from a sprained knee suffered a month ago against the Montreal Canadiens.
Peverley took a knee-on-knee hit from Hal Gill and was originally supposed to be out 4-6 weeks with the injury. So the shifty right winger will start on the road back to recovery on Wednesday barring any setbacks, and appears to be on the high end of the recovery window.
That means Boston should get at least one of their big forwards guns back sooner rather than later. The question is what exactly the healing Bs players will be coming back to if the remaining healthy Bruins skaters cant straighten things out and start winning some hockey games.