BRIGHTON, Mass – It was a return for a number of injured Bruins players on Thursday as Kevan Miler, Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara all appeared on the Warrior Ice Arena frozen sheet. Chara (left MCL sprain) and Bergeron (rib/sternoclavicular injury) skated ahead of Bruins practice and Miller (larynx) skated with the team during actual practice while wearing a red no-contact jersey. Chara has been out since Nov. 14, Bergeron has been out since Nov. 16 and Miller has been out since taking a fired puck to the throat in a Nov. 26 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“They’re skating and they’re getting closer to joining practice, but again there is no timeline,” said Bruce Cassidy. “I suspect that we’ll probably see them in [regular team] practice next week, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. It’s good to see [Miller] back on the ice because it was a tough injury, and he’s doing well. It’s good that he’s practicing, but he’ll obviously have to be cleared for contact at some point [before he can return].”
It wasn’t expected that either Chara or Bergeron would return much before Christmas given their original timetables, so they both appear to be on track with their recoveries. Miller, on the other hand, was expected to miss five weeks with his throat cartilage damage injury and would be way ahead of schedule if he were to return anytime soon.
So it may be a bit of recovery time for the larynx before he's pushed into contact drills.
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There was no indication from Cassidy that his timetable had been pushed up significantly, but the fact he was out during normal practice would indicate that perhaps Miller is pushing for a quicker return.
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On the other end of the spectrum, Sean Kuraly missed practice with a minor “closed reduction” procedure for his broken nose after last weekend’s fight with Ben Harpur. Cassidy termed the fourth line center somewhere between “questionable and probable” for Friday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Jake DeBrusk again missed practice and will be out for Friday night against the Penguins, but he’s also begun going through the concussion protocol program after feeling better and showing up to the B’s practice facility on Thursday. Here are the projected Bruins line combos and D-pairings vs. the Penguins based on Thursday’s practice:
Marchand-Krejci-Pastrnak
Nordstrom-Cave-Backes
Heinen-JFK-Donato
Smith-Acciari-Wagner
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Moore-Kampfer
Rask
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