Posts tagged toronto maple leafs

Practice Before Game 1 

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BOSTON, MA - Following Monday’s off day with no practice, the Bruins were back together at TD Garden on Tuesday morning for a hard-working, methodical practice prior to facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night in Game 1.

The morning started with goaltending coach Bob Essensa spending time on the ice with Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin, as Rask shifts into playoff mode.

Joining the B’s on the ice was Nathan Horton, who had been out day-to-day with an upper-body injury since leaving the April 21st game against Pittsburgh. Horton was reunited with Milan Lucic and David Krejci in white.

Jaromir Jagr also rejoined the Bruins after missing Friday’s practice with flu-like symptoms and subsequently, not being available for the games on Saturday or Sunday. He was sporting the grey jersey today, alongside Chris Kelly and Kaspars Daugavins, who had an impressive showing Sunday night vs Ottawa skating mostly alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci, earning his first assist as a Bruin and putting up three shots on goal, including a prime scoring opportunity after showing strong stickhandling in close.

There wasn’t too much extracurricular activity or joking around for the group during practice, who ran through their paces for nearly 40 minutes, before scrimmaging and taking part in battling five-on-five drills down low. With Jagr back on the ice, he also rejoined the power-play drills.

Captain Zdeno Chara led the team’s center-ice stretch prior to practice wrapping up; once the sticks taps to end stretch ensued, the B’s lightened up a bit, with their hard work nearly completed for the day.

Lines in practice:
White: Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Gold: Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin
Grey: Daugavins-Kelly-Jagr
Merlot: Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Green: Soderberg-Peverley-Pandolfo

Defensive pairings used mostly throughout practice reflected those from the past two games:
Chara-Seidenberg
Ference-Boychuk
Redden-McQuaid

Following practice, Coach Julien said that Jagr is okay and should be good to go tomorrow, while Horton is still day-to-day and they’ll “wait to see how he is tomorrow to make that decision” whether he’s in the lineup.

Horton said he feels good and has been skating on his own for four or five days now. “I’ve been working hard and it was great to be out there.”

Coach also noted that tomorrow’s lineup is not finalized yet and wants “everybody ready” to go. “We had line combinations today, but that doesn’t mean that’s what they’re going to be,” he said.

Stay tuned to BostonBruins.com and to Twitter @NHLBruins ^CS for more postpractice updates…

^CS

Bruins Announce First Round Playoff Schedule

Bruins announce playoff game and practice schedule for the first round of the 2013 playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs, beginning Wednesday, May 1.

Prior to facing Boston, the Maple Leafs held media availability around 5:00 p.m., since they did not hold a morning skate following their win 5-4 win over the Sens Wednesday night in Toronto.James van Riemsdyk and Mike Kostka were asked mostly questions about the B’s and how well they match-up, and had plenty of good words to float the Bruins’ way. “These are always games that are exciting to play,” said van Riemsdyk, before adding that tonight would definitely will be a good measuring stick for them. The forward called the B’s a good test because “they’re a big fast physical team” with a team-tough mentality that likes to get in hard on the forecheck. Another topic of discussion was the fact that Toronto has not won in Boston at TD Garden since March 31, 2011 and lost all six games against the Black & Gold last season. Defenseman Mike Kostka wasn’t around for the series sweep last season, and said there hasn’t been much talk around the Leafs dressing room, but knows the tough team they’re going up against. “They’re really stingy in the D-zone,” said Kostka, before adding that the Leafs’ forecheck will need to be on point tonight. Having some extra toughness on the lineup this season doesn’t hurt, and Kostka added that every game the Leafs are “going in with full confidence that you can go to war” with their lineup.We’ll leave the battle of toughness “to be continued” until the puck drops at 7 pm…-Caryn Switaj ^CS

Prior to facing Boston, the Maple Leafs held media availability around 5:00 p.m., since they did not hold a morning skate following their win 5-4 win over the Sens Wednesday night in Toronto.

James van Riemsdyk and Mike Kostka were asked mostly questions about the B’s and how well they match-up, and had plenty of good words to float the Bruins’ way.

“These are always games that are exciting to play,” said van Riemsdyk, before adding that tonight would definitely will be a good measuring stick for them.

The forward called the B’s a good test because “they’re a big fast physical team” with a team-tough mentality that likes to get in hard on the forecheck.

Another topic of discussion was the fact that Toronto has not won in Boston at TD Garden since March 31, 2011 and lost all six games against the Black & Gold last season.

Defenseman Mike Kostka wasn’t around for the series sweep last season, and said there hasn’t been much talk around the Leafs dressing room, but knows the tough team they’re going up against.

“They’re really stingy in the D-zone,” said Kostka, before adding that the Leafs’ forecheck will need to be on point tonight.

Having some extra toughness on the lineup this season doesn’t hurt, and Kostka added that every game the Leafs are “going in with full confidence that you can go to war” with their lineup.

We’ll leave the battle of toughness “to be continued” until the puck drops at 7 pm…

-Caryn Switaj ^CS