BOSTON — The Bruins returned to practice for the first time since the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off break. And while there was some rust to shake off, Joe Sacco liked what he saw.
“Overall, I was happy with it, to be honest. When you have that much time off, there’s going to be some rust that needs to come off, and there certainly was some rust,“ the Bruins interim coach said Tuesday. ”But I thought the effort was pretty solid from start to finish. It was a longer practice than we had in a while.”
Sacco added that while he could tell the players had been off for a while, they still came to Warrior Ice Arena prepared.
“I thought that the execution was good, considering the amount of time off,“ he said ”The pace was pretty good. It dropped off there toward the last couple of drills, especially when we get into the battle drills, which is to be expected. But I thought overall was a good effort by the guys today for Day 1.”
The Bruins don’t return to game action until Saturday night against the Anaheim Ducks. They might be shorthanded with Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm dealing with injuries.
McAvoy was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital on Monday night due to an upper-body injury sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off. He won’t play in Team USA’s championship game against Team Canada on Thursday, and his status for Saturday is unclear.
Hampus Lindholm, who’s been sidelined since November, didn’t practice on Tuesday. Sacco said the defenseman still needs to be cleared by the medical staff and didn’t face a setback.
Lindholm skated on his own after practice.
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