Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said he is happy with his team’s health entering the playoffs, considering the ages of the forward corps.
However, Patrice Bergeron was nowhere to be seen as the Bruins practiced Saturday in Brighton, two days before Game 1 against the Panthers.
“We’re just giving him extra rest,” Montgomery said of the captain, who played in 78 of 82 games (27-31–58) and left Thursday’s regular-season finale in Montreal after the first period with what the club called an upper-body injury. Montgomery added that the injury was a nagging issue that Bergeron has successfully dealt with before.
“He’s had a long year,” the coach said. “Same thing with Marchy.”
That would be top-line left wing Brad Marchand, who left practice early. Marchand, who had double hip surgery, missed eight of the first nine games but played in 72 of the final 73. He finished second on the team in scoring (21-46–67 in 73 games).
“Marchy wanted to give it a try today,” Montgomery said. “And he didn’t feel — he had a little bit of soreness, so I said, ‘Get off the ice.’ ”
Montgomery was not outwardly concerned about the health of either player. He used Pavel Zacha as the No. 1 center for practice. David Krejci, who missed the final six games, returned to center the second line between Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak.
“We knew it was going to be a hard practice, so we were very cautious,” Montgomery said, also noting that defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was limited. “Grizzy’s a little sore, so he didn’t partake in the scrimmage portion of it. It’s just precautionary.” Grzelcyk performed drills on an extra defense pair with Jakub Zboril.
“The reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we’re looking at [winger Nick] Foligno and [defenseman Derek] Forbort,” Montgomery said. “We want to see their conditioning at game speed, and how they react to that live, and how their bodies adjust tomorrow.”
Foligno, the coach said, “looked really good,” but there was “some rustiness” in Forbort’s game.
Foligno, who missed the final 22 games with a knee injury, said he felt he could be the best version of himself for Game 1. Foligno, who put up a 10-16–26 line in 60 games and was nominated for the Masterton Trophy (sportsmanship, perseverance, and dedication to the sport), practiced on a fourth line with Tomas Nosek and Garnet Hathaway. That made A.J. Greer and Jakub Lauko the extra forwards.
“This is my favorite time of year,” Foligno said. “You try not to be that old vet, but 16 years in, you want to get through 82 to get to this point. I think we’ve done a great job of putting ourselves in a great position. Now it’s back to zero.”
Forbort, who missed the final 15 games after blocking a shot with his foot in Winnipeg on March 16, skated on a third pair with Connor Clifton and said his timing felt good. Asked if anything would prevent him from being ready to play, Forbort said he would “see how [Sunday] goes in practice.”
Netminder Linus Ullmark (upper body), who was held back from making the trip to Montreal, practiced without limitation.
“We don’t have any issues with him,” Montgomery said. “He was out there at practice and I thought he performed well.”
Keeping with his custom, Montgomery would not commit to Ullmark as the Game 1 starter, possibly to keep the scouting workload high for the Panthers.
“I’ll let Goalie Bob [Essensa] make a decision,” Montgomery said. “I’ll let you know on Monday.”
Lesson learned
The Panthers were 23-22-6 when they hosted the Bruins on Jan. 28. They won, 4-3, despite Pastrnak scoring the go-ahead goal with 51 seconds left in regulation. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov scored with three seconds to go on a six-on-five scramble, and Sam Reinhart finished the comeback 17 seconds into overtime.
“That game was a lot of back and forth, which I’m expecting in the series here,” Montgomery said. “It was the only game where we didn’t close it out. Give credit to them, they made a play. But we know there’s mistakes that we made. That game actually helped us get better, to close out games.”
Montgomery pointed to the Panthers’ record since the All-Star break (19-10-2) as impressive. Most of the damage the Panthers did to the Bruins in the four games (Boston was 2-1-1) came off the rush, rather than in-zone cycles. Montgomery pointed to the Panthers’ proclivity for “X plays,” where attackers cross and head in different directions. That can leave defenders bunched up as they sort out coverage.
“They confuse [defenders] mostly with their routes, and combine that with elite speed and hockey IQ,” Montgomery said. “They’ve got a lot of players. [Anthony] Duclair’s very dangerous on the third line. [Ryan] Lomberg, everyone thinks of [him] as an agitator, but this guy makes a lot of plays. He had 12 goals. And again, elite speed.”
Damage control
Only shoo-in MVP Connor McDavid (22-26–48 in 26 games against the Pacific) did more damage against his division than the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk (18-26–44 against the Atlantic), who posted a 1-4–5 line in four games against the Bruins … Barkov led the Panthers in scoring against the Bruins (2-4–6) … Reinhart paced the Panthers with three goals in the season series (3-2–5) … Montgomery coached against 30-year-old journeyman Alex Lyon, the Panthers’ possible Game 1 starter in net, in the United States Hockey League. “I thought he was the best goalie in the USHL that year [2012-13, when Lyon played at Omaha and Montgomery coached Dubuque to the league title]. He went on to Yale and won championships in the American [Hockey] League and he’s had a great two-month run here with Florida. He might be the biggest reason they’re in the playoffs. He’s a confident goalie that we’re going to have to get in front of, and make sure he’s finding it hard to see the puck the way he’s been seeing it.” … Foligno, hoping to grow a long playoff beard in the coming months, began with a pre-playoff trim rather than a full shave. Janelle Foligno, he said, would have cringed if he did: “If I go full shave, my wife’s like, ‘Jeez.’ ”
Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.
April 15, 2023 at 09:35PM
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Patrice Bergeron gets extra rest as Bruins go through a hard practice in preparation for Game 1 against Panthers - The Boston Globe
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