Spooner Travels to Detroit, Remains Day-to-Day

BOSTON - Ryan Spooner practiced in full for the second straight day on Tuesday and remains day-to-day as he recovers from a lower-body injury that has hindered him since his return from a groin tear late last month.
The forward came back from the initial injury to play in two games before tweaking the ailment and missing the B's game with Edmonton on Nov. 26. Spooner proceeded to suit up for the next three contests then exited the lineup again, missing Boston's wins over the Coyotes and Islanders.

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said following practice that a decision on the 25-year-old's status for Wednesday night's game in Detroit would be determined in the morning. After a couple of setbacks, Boston's bench boss wants to make sure Spooner is back for the long haul this time around.
"He's still practicing full with the team," Cassidy said following practice at Warrior Ice Arena. "I guess the long and short of that [is] he's still day-to-day. We'll decide tomorrow. We don't want to go backwards again. We've had a couple of starts and stops with that one.
"We're going, to the best of our ability, try to manage that so we're going forward and not re-injuring."

Should Spooner be ready to play against the Red Wings, Boston would be forced to make a roster decision, something Spooner's injury helped the team avoid when Jake DeBrusk returned last week. When DeBrusk was activated from injured reserve, Spooner swapped places with the rookie, meaning the Bruins are currently at the 23-man limit.
"He'll travel with the team, and if tomorrow we decide he's in the lineup then Donny [Sweeney] and I will talk about how that affects our roster. But we don't know if he's going to play tomorrow," said Cassidy.
In the five games Spooner has played since returning from his extended absence, he has notched a goal and two assists.

Family Time for Miller

Kevan Miller missed practice on Tuesday to be with his wife, Haley, for the birth of the couple's first child. Cassidy was not sure what the defenseman's status would be for the game in Detroit, saying family comes first.
"He's at the hospital. Heard everything was going well so far, so he's excused for personal reasons," said Cassidy. "Right now we're going to let today play out. I think that's a conversation we're going to have with the player as well. It could go either way.
"Take care of that part of the business first and we'll see where he is at personally."

Opposing View

The Bruins will be making their inaugural regular-season trip to Little Caesar's Arena, which opened ahead of this season.
The Red Wings have struggled of late, losing nine of their last 10 games (1-5-4), and are tied for fifth place in the Atlantic Division with the Florida Panthers (28 points).
Dylan Larkin leads the team with 23 points (4 goals, 19 assists), while Antony Mantha paces the Wings with 12 goals. Jimmy Howard has gotten the majority of the action between the pipes, posting a 9-9-5 record with a 2.90 goals against average and .906 save percentage in 25 games.
Detroit ranks 10th in the league on the power play (20%) and 11th on the penalty kill (81.9%).

Wait, There's More

• Per Cassidy, Tuukka Rask will start in goal on Wednesday night in Detroit, while Anton Khudobin will get the nod on Thursday against the Washington Capitals back in Boston.
• Adam McQuaid continues to progress in his recovery from a broken right fibula, but did not travel with the team to Detroit.
• Matt Beleskey skated with a visor on his helmet after taking a puck to the cheek during Monday's practice.
• A day after skating on his own before practice, Peter Cehlarik did not take the ice on Tuesday: "They may have given him a day today," said Cassidy. "He will be approaching three weeks [since the injury] on Friday. They originally forecast four weeks before a re-evaluation."

Tuesday's Practice Lineup

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Anders Bjork
Danton Heinen - Riley Nash - David Backes
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Matt Beleskey - Ryan Spooner - Frank Vatrano
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Kevan Miller
Paul Postma - Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin