Wounded players still need break
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WILMINGTON - One by one, the healthy Bruins skated off the Ristuccia Arena ice after yesterday's practice.
While their teammates hit the dressing room, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Aaron Ward, and Andrew Ference lined up on the blue line. With taps on his stopwatch, assistant coach Doug Houda prompted each player to kick off his sprints between the blue line and red line.
Fortunately for the Bruins, the four core players are healing. In all likelihood, however, none will be in uniform until after this weekend's All-Star break.
"I'll be skating over the break, just making sure that I don't lose what I've gained," said Ference. "So hopefully, shortly after the break. It's been baby steps lately. But how long is the break? Five days? In five days, you can accomplish a lot."
Ference (tibia), Lucic (shoulder), and Ward (charley horse) traveled with the team to Toronto yesterday. They will participate in today's morning skate at the
"Just being safe," Lucic said. "It would have been great to be part of it once again, especially with the 100-year anniversary of the Canadiens. It [stinks] that I have to miss it, but I got to experience the game last year."
Ward is probably the closest to returning of the injured players, but the Bruins might be hesitant to send him out against the Maple Leafs, considering he's aggravated injuries twice this season by returning too soon.
Bergeron (concussion) didn't make the trip, remaining home to work on his conditioning.
"I'm feeling good," said Bergeron, who didn't offer a guess as to when he could be back in uniform. "I'm doing pretty much everything I've been told I can do. There's been improvement every day. Just trying to practice every day, trying to feel better, and trying to get my timing and rhythm back."
With help imminent but not immediate, the Bruins must rely on hard work, effort, and reliance on their defense-first system to get through at least tonight's match against a plucky Toronto club that's given Boston a handful in every meeting. Yesterday, the Bruins spent most of the on-ice session practicing three-on-three and two-on-one situations down low in the danger areas.
In their last outing, a 5-4 shootout loss to St. Louis at TD Banknorth Garden Monday, the Bruins didn't do enough to generate scoring chances against backup goalie Chris Mason.
"Going through this time that we're going through, we've got injuries to some key guys," said Marc Savard. "Having said that, we've got to do like we did last year and battle to win games. We've gone against some battling teams in the Islanders and St. Louis, and we've got to match the hard work that we did last year."
Yesterday, coach Claude Julien reminded the rookie in a conversation not to be so harsh on himself.
"He's a first-year player. He's had a great start," Julien said. "Hitting a little bit of a wall at one point is normal for players used to playing 40 games a year."
In each of the last two seasons, Wheeler appeared in 44 games for the University of Minnesota. Split up from David Krejci and Michael Ryder for the first time in more than two months, he set up Chuck Kobasew for the opening goal against St. Louis.
"For him, he just has to take a step back, try and keep his game simple as best as he can, and not get discouraged," Julien said. "That's what we were talking about today. Don't get discouraged and don't be so hard on yourself. There are times you can learn and grow from. When everything is smooth, it's easy to stay positive. When things are tough, this is where you have an opportunity to grow and learn even more."
