BRIGHTON, Mass. — Bruins defenseman Torey Krug has battled slow starts to each of his last two seasons while using training camps and the preseason to help recover from late season injuries. Last season Krug played just one game in October, and didn’t score his first goal for the season until December while recovering from a broken ankle.
Two seasons ago Krug had three points in nine games during the month of October and was a rough minus-9 by the end of the season’s first month coming off a knee injury.
The sluggish beginnings are understandable given those circumstances and haven’t hurt him from a season performance standpoint, as he’s posted 50 or more points in three consecutive seasons.
Krug entered this training camp healthy for the first time in years and is excited to see how that might translate into more consistency on the ice while readying for his preseason debut on Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
“The preseason hasn’t always been my friend. In the last two preseasons I’ve found myself on the sidelines. So in the years before that I was always competing for ice time and a spot, so it’s a little different now just fine-tuning for the season,” said Krug. “I’m still not out of the woods yet with a couple of preseason games to go, but I’d hope coming into the year healthy [would be helpful]. Although [there is] a fog coming in from last year and just trying to get through that.
“It’s about getting my energy levels up for playing hockey and I would hope that would lead to a fast start for not only me, but for the team as well.”
Boston Bruins
It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Boston’s most potent offensive D-man can post entering a regular season healthy for the first time in years. It all starts tonight with his preseason debut in his normal defensive pairing with Brandon Carlo as one of the few regulars in Boston’s lineup:
FORWARD LINES
Bjork - Lindholm - Backes
Heinen - Frederic - Kuhlman
Carey - Studnicka - Steen
Fitzgerald - Shen - Senyshyn
DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Grzelcyk - McAvoy
Krug - Carlo
Lauzon - Kampfer
Zboril
GOALTENDERS
Halak - Lagace
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