Bruins Set to Get Back at it After Week-Long Break

BOSTON - Bruce Cassidy pointed out that it was not necessarily the worst thing for the Bruins to have Thursday off. With temperatures approaching 70 degrees - quite the rarity for mid-November in New England - it was the perfect time for a day away from the rink.
"Sometimes a day like [Thrusday], just to get away from the rink - it's 68 degrees or whatever - is nice, puts you in a good frame of mind," said Cassidy. "I thought we were good in practice today, crisp, ready to go, mood was good."

The one problem is that the Bruins have had a lot of days away from the rink of late.
Following their sweep of a weekend back-to-back against New Jersey and Montreal, the Bruins faced a six-day break ahead of Saturday night's tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. It marked Boston's fourth layoff of three or more days so far this season, which has made it difficult for the Black & Gold to completely find their groove.
It has also set them back in the standings with the B's (8-5-0, 16 points) holding at least two games in hand on every other team in the Atlantic Division, while boasting a whopping six games in hand on Detroit (8-9-2, 18 points), the team directly ahead of them.
"It hasn't been great," said Bruins alternate captain Brandon Carlo. "I think we've all looked at the schedule each day and saw that we're at 13 games and other teams are at close to 20. It's been really weird. But ebbs and flows of the season, you've got to adjust.
"I think we can just find our groove again in these next couple games and from there we should be pretty well set because things will get a little more consistent with games throughout the week…overall, I think we just want to continue to play."

Cassidy is confident that his club, which practiced three times this week, will be ready to carry over the momentum from its two straight victories once the puck drops on Saturday night despite all the downtime.
"I think our guys felt good about their game last week with the exception of one period [against Edmonton]. We're building off some positives. Can't control the schedule," said Cassidy. "I assume we'll be ready to go and keep on accumulating points. That's just my feeling with the group.
"Will there be a little bit of rust early? I doubt it. I think earlier in the year there would have been after that opening layoff, exhibition games, guys weren't in a rhythm. I think they've gotten into more of a rhythm."

Zboril, Reilly to Pair Up

Cassidy confirmed that Mike Reilly and Jakub Zboril will team up as Boston's third dense pairing with Zboril switching to the right side in place of Connor Clifton, who will be a healthy scratch against the Flyers as Boston's bench boss looks for a bit more consistency in the blue liner's game.
"We went with Cliffy, he obviously had earned the trust of the staff, has been around, it fit better [as a right shot on the right side]," said Cassidy. "At the end of the day, you've got to perform every night consistently. I think Cliffy is still battling through some of that, even in-game. Example the other night [against Montreal], has some big, physical moments, breaks up a 2-on-1, but also goes diving down [in the offensive zone] in a situation that now we're chasing the game.
"At the end of the day, Zboril goes in, does his job, moves the puck a little bit, a little more dynamic offensively, yet still solid defensively, so he shouldn't get frozen out either. There's that to balance."
Reilly, meanwhile, will re-enter the lineup after sitting out last weekend's back-to-back as a healthy scratch on the heels of some up-and-down play of his own.
"Mike was a little bit more of a message, I'll be the first one to tell you that," said Cassidy. "I would assume he hopefully gets it and gets to his level and stays in the lineup every night. That was the plan. The other guys are less father along in their careers so it's a little bit more of a battle for the other two."

Filling the Net

Linus Ullmark will make the start between the pipes on Saturday in Philadelphia, while Jeremy Swayman will get the call on Sunday against Calgary at TD Garden where the rookie netminder is 8-0-0 in his career.
"I think Sway has found his game now, found his rhythm. Let's see if we can do the same for Linus," said Cassidy. "Last time Sway had Philadelphia we didn't win…so, 'OK let's try the other guy.' They were both gonna play a game [this weekend].
"Again, it's all discussed with [goalie coach Bob Essensa]. We do want to get Ullmark in there as quickly as possible. It is a fresh week…give him an opportunity."

Friday's Practice Lines

FORWARDS
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall - Charlie Coyle - Nick Foligno
Jake DeBrusk - Erik Haula - Craig Smith
Anton Blidh - Tomas Nosek - Curtis Lazar/Karson Kuhlman
DEFENSEMEN
Derek Forbort - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzeclyk - Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly - Jakub Zboril
Connor Clifton
GOALEIS
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman