Bruins take another hit ahead of Western Canada road trip
It’s turning about to be one of those months for the Boston Bruins.
With Brad Marchand officially back from his three-game suspension, the Bruins experienced some other losses Monday, with forwards Charlie Coyle and Tomas Nosek, along with defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and goaltender Linus Ullmark, out with non-COVID illnesses. That brings the Black and Gold’s illness count up to five, as this foursome joins Charlie McAvoy, who missed Saturday’s game with the Lightning due to an illness, ahead of the team’s charter to Vancouver.
In fact, the illnesses have changed the Bruins’ travel plans, with the Bruins opting not to leave for Vancouver on Monday as originally scheduled. The team will instead hold another 10:30 a.m. practice at Warrior Ice Arena tomorrow, and assess where their numbers are at ahead of a five and a half hour flight with a bunch of sickies breathing the same air.
“We wanted to give our guys an extra day just to hopefully feel better,” Bruins acting head coach Joe Sacco said following Monday’s work in Brighton. “Reset again, 24 hours, and go from there.”
The Bruins will also remain without head coach Bruce Cassidy, who landed in the league’s COVID protocols last week, for the start of this road trip, according to Sacco.
“Right now, he’s feeling better,” Sacco said of Cassidy. “It’s just a matter of going through the protocol. But fortunately, his symptoms have dissipated a little bit and he’s feeling better. He’s not coming with us originally and I’m not sure if he’s an option [later]. But originally, he wasn’t scheduled to come with us. That’s more of a day by day scenario right now.”
The illness flying through the Boston locker room forced the Bruins to reach back into the Providence ranks Monday, with defensemen Jack Ahcan and John Moore recalled from the P-Bruins.
In non-sickness news, Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron was missing from Monday’s session to get his nose reset. Bergeron broke it in last week’s win over the Predators in a collision with the Preds’ Filip Forsberg.
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