Joakim Nordstrom ‘a little behind schedule' as readiness for Bruins' season opener in doubt

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BRIGHTON, Mass – Joakim Nordstrom (foot) and David Krejci (lower body) were both missing from the ice at Bruins practice Friday at Warrior Ice Arena and at least one of the two might not be ready to play in the regular season-opener in Dallas on Thursday night.

Peter Cehlarik and Jack Studnicka were also missing from practice and both Nordstrom and Krejci won’t be playing in preseason finale Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) against the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. Krejci was at the practice arena on Friday to receive treatment and the prognosis is a little better for him as he’s expected to return to the ice next week ahead of the opener.

Nordstrom, on the other hand, has had something of a setback with the broken foot he was recovering from all summer, and it doesn’t sound as if he’s going to be ready to play when the season begins next week.

“I think [Krejci] will be back on the ice Sunday or Monday,” said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. “There is [question if he’ll play in the opener] now. He’s obviously not going to play Saturday. We were hoping he’d get in a [preseason] game before it was said and done.

“He’s a little behind schedule, so we’ll see how that plays out. I think something just lingered, so setback may be the word. It just didn’t come around as quickly as we would have liked.”

Nordstrom was injured in the Game 7 loss to the Blues in the Stanley Cup Final and would have been penciled into Boston’s fourth line to start the regular season if he’d been healthy. The injury to Nordstrom might open the door for somebody like Par Lindholm or Brett Ritchie to sub in for Nordstrom on the fourth line, or it could open the door for Anders Bjork or Trent Frederic to make the opening night NHL roster when they otherwise would have probably started the season in Providence.

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