Next stop: Toronto.
The Bruins wrapped up their two weeks of return-to-play practices on Saturday and are now making their last-minute preparations before departing for the bubble Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
There was no change when it came to the biggest story of this summer camp, as David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase were once again absent, meaning they missed every full-team practice. Fellow wing Nick Ritchie also missed practice for a third straight day, and Paul Carey missed a second straight session.
Coach Bruce Cassidy said he believes Pastrnak and Ritchie will travel with the team Sunday, but he was unsure about Kase. The team is going through a final round of testing Saturday and they'll get final confirmation on those guys Sunday.
The Bruins will have to make two cuts before leaving to get down to the 31-player maximum for the bubble. Cassidy said the team will be bringing all four goalies they've had in camp (Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Max Lagace and Dan Vladar) and all 10 defensemen, so the two cuts will come from the gruoup of 19 forwards.
The Bruins' lines Saturday remained the same as they've been the last couple days, with Anders Bjork in Pastrnak's usual spot on the first line and Jack Studnicka alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk on the second line.
#NHLBruins practice lines:Marchand – Bergeron – BjorkDeBrusk – Krejci – StudnickaKuraly – Coyle – KuhlmanNordstrom – Lindholm – WagnerBlidh – Frederic – SenyshynChara – McAvoyKrug – CarloGrzelcyk – LauzonMoore – CliftonVaakanainen – ZborilRaskHalakLagace pic.twitter.com/ol8wxANlQn
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) July 25, 2020Reflecting on how the last two weeks have gone and where the team is at now, Cassidy said there was a lot to like about these practices while also acknowledging that the prolonged absences of Pastrnak and Kase along with other day-to-day absences for various reasons threw things off a bit.
"We scripted it out as best we could with the assumption that everyone would be here, and obviously that didn't happen," Cassidy said. "We missed some players. We did get a lot of scrimmaging in, five-on-five. We tried to build as much of that as we could. Some special teams. I guess as a coach you're going out of here thinking, 'OK we got two weeks, we took care of the details in every zone, video, got some special teams.'
"But we're missing players we expect to play for us for some big chunks of time. Some didn't even join us. That part of it, you're not disappointed, you're just, well, we miss that. We miss the continuity of having everyone in the lineup that we expect to have in the lineup practicing, but that's the way it goes sometimes. You have injuries throughout the season and playoffs where you just have to plug another guy in. That's the way we approached it.
"I like where our conditioning's at. We need to get better obviously. It's only been two weeks, but I think it's trending very well. The pace of practice and games has been up. Execution's gotten better, clearly this week over last week. We've gotten through it without any major scares injury-wise, so that part's good.
"I think I wasn't sure on the demeanor of the guys in terms of having to leave to go into a bubble. They seem fine with it. Steve Kampfer explained why he opted out. Other than that, I don't see anyone begrudgingly going to Toronto. We all have a singular focus and goal, and that's to win the Cup. I think that's been evident with the guys' work ethic when they've come to the rink. That part of it's been excellent."
As far as any last-minute messages about the next 24-plus hours before they leave, Cassidy said he told the team to just be smart and take advantage of some final family-bonding time for a while.
"Stay healthy. Spend some quality time with your family or the people that are important to you," Cassidy said. "Stay away from people you haven't been in regular contact with. Social distance. Continue to mask up. We'd hate to see a last-minute casualty, especially if it affects the whole group. You get on a plane, you're going to be in tight quarters for a while. So today's an important day. That's it. Get some rest, pack well, don't forget anything that's important to you for free time, and that's about it."
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