Bruins Could Be at Full Strength for Return to Game Action

BostonBruins.com - After four straight days of practice, the Bruins stayed off the ice on Thursday as they progress toward a return to game action this weekend. The Black & Gold are scheduled to host Buffalo on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden before traveling to Detroit for a Sunday matinee with the Red Wings.

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy met virtually with the media on Thursday morning and said that Boston could be at full strength for Saturday's tilt against the Sabres. With the NHL adjusting its COVID-19 protocols to align with the CDC's new five-day isolation period, Charlie Coyle, who entered protocol on Dec. 26, could return to the team as soon as Friday's practice if he meets a certain testing threshold - a CT value greater than 30 - to determine he is no longer contagious.
"He has to test and get a certain number today, I believe it is," Cassidy explained. "We'll know more probably in the next few hours if he met that threshold. I think that's part of the protocol now after five days…I don't know if he met that number or not this morning but if he did, he'll be in [Friday] for practice. If not, then he keeps testing until he gets there."
Cassidy seemed optimistic that if Coyle is cleared for a return that he'll be ready to play against the Sabres on Saturday, despite not having been able to practice with the team since before the club's COVID shutdown earlier this month.
"I'll have to talk to him. Some are able to do more at home than others," said Cassidy. "I think Charlie was asymptomatic, so he should be fine. I assume he was doing some work. He's in pretty good shape to begin with…we'll just have to see how he looks on the ice and see how he feels.
"He's got to be part of that discussion as well. It's an afternoon game; there's no morning skate to sort of get an extra touch or two in there. He'll certainly be available, and we'll most likely use him, if he thinks he's ready to go."

Overall, Cassidy is pleased with how his club has looked during their four on-ice sessions this week. Boston's bench boss has tried to implement a number of battle drills into the practices in an attempt to simulate the intensity the Bruins are likely to face against the Sabres, who will have already played two games since the holiday break.
"They'll have the advantage of being back into the grind of puck possession down low, 50/50 pucks, and just the stuff that's hard to practice over and over - the game situations where you're coming through the middle with your head up as opposed to looking down sometimes," said Cassidy, who tried to treat this week as a mini training camp.
"In practice, you're not getting hit like that, so that's the one advantage they'll have. It will be their third game in three and a half days. The advantage in that regard should be to us, we should have the fresher legs. We'll see which one wins out. We have built some battle into our practice this week - enough that I hope our guys are winning their puck battles."
While it will have been over two weeks since they last played a game when the Bruins take to the TD Garden sheet on Saturday afternoon, Boston's bench boss believes the Black & Gold will be raring to go as they begin a frantic new year that will feature 56 games through the end of the regular season on April 29.
"I think our guys are ready to go," said Cassidy. "We've had a good week of practice so far. We're on again [Friday], tidy up a few things. Energy level is good. We've got pretty much all our bodies here with the exception of Charlie and looks like he might be joining us. I think this is as healthy as we've been all year. Let's see how it plays out."