3-course takeaway from Bruins intrasquad scrum at TD Garden



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Bruce Cassidy was off the beaten path as the Bruins embarked on an 11-day layoff following their elimination from the Carolina Hurricanes last Thursday.

He spoke with Bill Belichick, Brad Stevens and Alex Cora, his colleagues in Boston, to get an idea of ​​the management of a long wait between the playoffs. Even then, Cassidy had to keep his team strong while waiting for the St. Louis Blues for the first game of the Stanley Cup final on Monday.

With that in mind, Cassidy thought of something a little different. The Bruins' third-year bench boss scheduled an intrasquad scrum Thursday night in front of a group of TD Garden fans.

Nothing is comparable to a real game, however. The Bruins will find out Monday against a Blues team that will start the first game with a six-day layoff. But the black and white scrum provided a lot of topics for discussion.

With that in mind, here's what we learned from the scrum on Thursday.

Brad Marchand escaped a fear of injury.

The Bruins held their breath when Brad Marchand collided with Conor Clifton in the first half of the intrasquad scrum. But Marchand returned to the next shift as the Bruins entered the power play of the ice session.

Back in the power play unit, Marchand witnessed David Pastrnak's countdown. Better yet, Boston's top scorer in the playoffs did not credit the risk of injury for the rest of the scrum.

"Listen, the risk of injury was our biggest concern," said Cassidy. "It will be Saturday when we train at our normal time, and of course Sunday. You keep your fingers crossed, but he's fine. He just hit Clifton in front of the net and snuggles against his … I do not know what he's stuck in his hand or something. So he kept playing and he was fine. There was no problem there. "

The Bruins did not have everyone in good health on Thursday night, though. David Krejci did not join TD Garden, he stayed at home with the flu. Cassidy said the second-line center should be back with the team for Saturday's testing.

It was a productive night from top to bottom.

A night like this makes things difficult to break down from the point of view of the X's and O's. But Cassidy and her company have completed everything they needed on the to-do list.

This was not the normal course of the one hour workout. Some Bruins even admitted to having blown after the only scrum of Thursday.

Elite talents such as Pastrnak, Marchand and Patrice Bergeron deserved representatives. Zdeno Chara had legs in the air after missing match 4 of the Eastern Conference final with an undisclosed injury. Tuukka Rask worked 25 minutes in good health before giving way to Zane McIntyre for the second half of the night. And the Black Aces, titled by best hope Jack Studnicka and 2016's first player, Trent Frederic, have gained a taste of the match day experience.

More importantly, the Bruins have returned to routine with an optional morning skate and night scrum.

"It was great to be back in front of our hometown. I thought the guys were sick of it, and I guess it's good to be appreciated like that, "said Cassidy.

"But we were trying to do our job. That was our message. We can not go there and make it a summer hockey league match. You will play a few pieces but try to stay as detailed as possible. Sometimes, in these environments, you want to do a little more, so we have a bit of both, but our work is done. "

Boston is an electric hockey city.

They did not have the chance to participate in a seventh match or a possible decisive scenario. But the loyal Bruins fans showed up to see their local hockey team in action.

More than 16,000 fans gathered in front of TD Garden with the slogans "Let's Go Bruins" and "We Want the Cup". All Bruin players have been fueling the energy of their loyal fans in the puck's first action at Causeway Street since winning the second game against the Hurricanes in Boston on May 12th.

"Certainly something special," said Pastrnak. "It was great and we enjoyed it. I hope they had fun and that it was a good overview [for Game 1] for them."

Fans received their $ 20 Thursday, with all proceeds going to the Boston Bruins Foundation. The loyal fans of the Bruins, who have stuck to the team against the meaning, would like nothing more than a parade of ducks in a few weeks.

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