Rask Back at Practice as B's Look to Move Forward

BostonBruins.com - Tuukka Rask returned to practice on Monday afternoon in Toronto after being away from the team for two days with what he described as a cough.

The B's netminder met with the media following the skate and ran through the sequence that left him quarantined in his hotel room for two days as he awaited two negative COVID-19 test results.

"I had a cough, so I just clicked yes on the [league's health] app and then all kinds of red lights started blinking and I was quarantined for two days," Rask explained. "They wanted to do two negative tests after that…they want to be very cautious of that if there's any symptoms."

Rask, who missed Saturday's practice and Sunday's round-robin opener, said he still has a bit of a cough but was relieved that it wasn't anything more serious.

"At least I tested negative," said Rask. "I'm still coughing but I'm not too worried about that. As long as the test came back negative that's all I care about. People have coughs, but I guess this day and age, anything like that can be alarming."

After Jaroslav Halak filled in during the Bruins' 4-1 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, Rask expects to be back between the pipes on Wednesday for Boston's second round-robin contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"I'll be ready to go," said Rask. "It wasn't easy to lay in your bed for a couple days, being quarantined. But just trying to catch up, get your legs back under you and get ramping up again. Couple more games of round-robin and I feel confident that within the next few days I'll be back to normal."

Taking Stock

The only player missing for Monday's skate was Patrice Bergeron, who was given a maintenance day. "He's fine. He'll get back on the ice [on Tuesday]," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy.

The Bruins did have Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase available for the session, flanking David Krejci on the team's second line. It was a trio that Cassidy was trying to introduce in the days following the wingers' acquisitions from Anaheim just before the trade deadline, but the experiment was cut short by the NHL's pause in March.

Ritchie returned to the group on Saturday after missing over a week for an undisclosed reason. Per Cassidy, the 24-year-old is expected to take part in his first game action of the restart on Wednesday night against Tampa.

Kase, meanwhile, was with the main group for the first time since March, after missing all of training camp. He isn't likely to play before Sunday's round-robin finale against Washington.

"I don't believe Kase will be ready Wednesday, hasn't been on the ice enough," said Cassidy. "That would be a big ask. It's still two days away so I won't rule him out, but I'd say he's doubtful. We're targeting Sunday for him, get more reps. We mixed him in with Krejci today. We also had [Karson Kuhlman] on that wing."

With Kase and Ritchie back with Krejci, Cassidy bumped Jake DeBrusk to his off-wing alongside Anders Bjork and Charlie Coyle, reuniting another trio that saw time together before the shutdown.

"He's had some decent games with Coyle," Cassidy said of DeBrusk. "I liked Anders on the left side much better [on Sunday] than maybe the right wing [in the exhibition game against Columbus]. For whatever reason, he seems to find the puck a little more off the wing.

"I could always flip him and Jake. I asked Jake, 'Why don't you try the right side today?' Him and Krech [on Sunday] didn't generate much offense, they didn't have much going."

Ultimately, Cassidy isn't as concerned with his line combinations as he is with getting each individual playing up to standard after such a long layoff.

"It doesn't matter to me, honestly. We've got three really good centermen," said Cassidy. "Those guys are all good players, DeBrusk, Ritchie, Bjork - wherever they end up, we just expect them to take care of themselves right now. We're two games in, an exhibition and a round-robin game, after a long pause.

"It's more about, right now, every individual has to get their game together. And then the team stuff I believe will come. But right now, I think that's our focus. We saw it again last night where some individuals fought the puck at times.

"I expected rust - we're seeing it - and the quicker we can shake it off, the more we can say, 'Hey, now who's playing well, who should be with who?'"

Shore It Up

While Cassidy was satisfied with his team's effort during the first period on Sunday, he pointed to sloppy puck management and a lack of execution under pressure for its second-period undoing, sentiments that were echoed by the players following the game and again on Monday afternoon.

"You have to be really conscious of your decisions all the time," said Brad Marchand. "Little mistakes, especially this time of year can really cost you. When you're off for as long as we've been, you have to be very sharp with your decision making, especially the ice being in the condition it's in, I think you're gonna see a lot of teams play more simple and chipping more pucks in. It's a lot harder to make plays…it's different, it's gonna take some getting used to."

Monday's Practice Lineup

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand - Jack Studnicka/Trent Frederic - David Pastrnak

Nick Ritchie - David Krejci - Ondrej Kase/Karson Kuhlman

Anders Bjork - Charlie Coyle - Jake DeBrusk/Zach Senyshyn

Joakim Nordstrom - Sean Kuraly/Par Lindholm - Chris Wagner

DEFENSEMEN

Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy

Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo

Matt Grzelcyk - Jeremy Lauzon

John Moore - Connor Clifton

Jakub Zboril - Urho Vaakanainen

GOALIES

Tuukka Rask

Jaroslav Halak

Daniel Vladar

Max Lagace

MAINTENANCE DAY

Patrice Bergeron