There were some encouraging updates when it comes to injured Bruins on Thursday.
For starters, Trent Frederic practiced with the team in Tampa in a regular jersey and appears to be good to go for Friday night's game against the Lightning. That is good news considering there were concerns Frederic might miss a longer period of time after suffering an upper-body injury on Monday.
Frederic had already suffered two concussions this season and missed a full month following the second one in January. It's unclear if he suffered another one this time, but if he did, then he already cleared protocol. He would not be practicing in a regular jersey if he hadn't.
Hampus Lindholm did not practice Thursday after suffering a lower-body injury on Tuesday, but coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters that he has not yet been ruled out for Friday. At the very least, it's encouraging that Lindholm's injury doesn't seem to be anything longer-term.
The one negative update on Thursday was that David Pastrnak did not practice and has already been ruled out for Friday. Pastrnak left Monday's game after getting tangled up with a Blue Jacket on a faceoff and falling awkwardly. He had been dealing with some sort of core injury for a couple weeks; it's unclear if this is related or something separate.
Cassidy did reiterate, however, that he doesn't think Pastrnak's injury is anything long-term and that he is still considered "day-to-day," noting that he remains with the team on the trip and hasn't gone back to Boston. He has not yet been ruled out for Sunday's game in Washington.
With Pastrnak out, rookie Marc McLaughlin practiced on the second line with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula on Thursday. Tomas Nosek played in that spot on Tuesday, but Cassidy had him back in his usual spot as fourth-line center between Nick Foligno and Curtis Lazar on Thursday.
Mike Reilly was with Charlie McAvoy on the top defense pairing, where he had been playing prior to the acquisition of Lindholm. It appears he would get first crack there if Lindholm can't go, with Matt Grzelcyk remaining on the second pair with Brandon Carlo.
Cassidy told reporters Linus Ullmark would start in net Friday night.
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