NEW YORK CITYThe Bruins held an optional practice on the Madison Square Garden ice on Wednesday morning, but almost every member of the Black and Gold went out for at least a few twirls on the frozen sheet. Zdeno Chara was among those that stayed off the ice, and goaltender Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice denoting his likely starting gig tonight against the Blueshirts.
Both Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg (lower-body injury) took the ice with their teammates, and Bruins coach Claude Julien said that each player would be a game-time decision. It was termed a maintenance day off the ice for Marchand on Tuesday and Seidenberg couldnt do much to update his status after taking part in the optional skate.
Seidenberg skated in both practices sandwiched between Monday afternoons matinee win against the Jets, and the Bruins are hopeful that hell be playing.
Im a game-time decision, said Seidenberg. Top secret stuff. Its not a big issue at all, but you dont want it to turn into something that could become a two-week thing in such a short season.
Otherwise the Bruins are healthy, well-rested and looking forward to starting the road portion of their 48-game regular season against the Rangers team that they dusted on opening night.
Were no different than any other team in the shortened schedule, said Julien. Theres a lot of maintenance things to take care of, and maybe be a little more cautious with the way the schedule is playing every second night. But so far our team is in very good shape.
If Seidenberg and Marchand cant go then spare skaters Lane MacDermid and Aaron Johnson will get the call for the Bruins.