WILMINGTON - All in all, it was quiet yesterday at the Bruins' training facility, less than 24 hours after they lost to the Panthers, 1-0, in overtime, their second defeat in as many days. Most everyone took the day off skates, which was not necessarily a metaphor for how they played the previous two games, but . . .
"We've gotten away from playing our game a little bit," said Marc Savard. "The game plan is there to protect us, and we got away from it. It looks like we're going to make the playoffs, but we can't take anyone lightly."
Perhaps more to the point, they can't be caught daydreaming about what might happen in April while nothing has been decided in March. Truth is, they should be able to secure a playoff seed for the first time since 2004, but they still have 16 games remaining in the regular season.
At last check, no one has been eliminated from the playoff race, not even the lowly Maple Leafs, who will be on Causeway Street tonight. After winning six in a row, and gaining a bit of separation from the other wannabes in the East, the Bruins appeared to relax too much Monday night, and that lackadaisical attitude turned into a humiliating 10-2 thumping at the hands of the Capitals.
"I think that's human nature," said Savard, asked if the confidence gained over the winning stretch led to a mind-set that they could begin to take things easy. "But we can't let that happen. We have to stop it. We had a meeting here [yesterday], and that point was made - we cannot sit and relax."
Stepping up
Aaron Ward, who suffered a deep contusion near his right instep when blocking a shot Monday, was not among the handful of players who took to the Ristuccia ice. However, he was able to discard his crutches and walking boot, and made his way gingerly around the dressing room in a pair of sneakers."Looking good," a dressing room visitor said to Ward, who was still in obvious pain. "Looks like you can lace 'em up and play [tonight]."
Ward, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, smiled and muttered a polite "No comment."
Ward remained tight-lipped. The club's public relations point man, Matt Chmura, would only say that Ward is day to day. Coach Claude Julien sounded optimistic about Ward's chances of a quick recovery, but deftly stickhandled around the issue of a timeline. General manager Peter Chiarelli Monday night expressed optimism about Ward's recovery, but also said the veteran could need upward of two weeks to get back.
Best guess: at least a week or 10 days. Sometimes it's not what they say, but what they don't say.
Meanwhile, look for Bobby Allen to get the green light again tonight as Ward's replacement. Allen played Tuesday for the first time since mid-December, and was used sparingly (five shifts/3:27).
Allen's light workload, said Julien, was a reflection of the Panthers shortening their bench in the third period, leading Julien to go more with his regulars on the backline, especially Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman. No point in looking to Providence (AHL) for another defenseman.
"He'll probably play more if he's back in there [tonight]," said Julien of Allen, not wanting to make Ward's absence official. "He's the next guy on our [depth] list, so it's not about calling up anyone from Providence."
Balancing act
Julien won't commit to naming his goaltender prior to a game, but he did say it's a possibility that he will balance the workload more evenly between Tim Thomas and Alex Auld over the final 16 games, especially when considering those games will be played over only 31 days."There is always that possibility," said Julien. "We are going to have to be careful here how we use guys - and not just with those two." Later he added, "You might see both goaltenders; I'm not going to lie about that."
He's outta here
Chara, maniacal about his workouts, did not get on the ice and was among the first players to leave early in the afternoon. Getting Big Z to back off a bit is a good thing, in Julien's eyes."I had the privilege of coaching Jiri Fischer as well," said Julien. "And he's identical to Z - they are both workout fanatics, and they tend to think they are losing out when they don't work out. But I told Z that there would be times I would force him off."
Yesterday, said Julien, was not a day he had to tell Chara to take it easy. Maybe the big man is catching on a little bit to the idea of rest and recovery.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com.
