Bruins Notes: Brad Marchand ‘Fine’ After Bumping Into Connor Clifton
BOSTON — Breathe easy, Bruins fans. It appears Brad Marchand is just fine.
The winger collided with Connor Clifton in the first 25-minute period of Boston’s scrimmage at TD Garden on Thursday night. Marchand appeared to be in some discomfort as he was favoring his left arm.
But he didn’t miss a shift.
After the scrimmage, head coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t sound too concerned about it being anything serious with No. 63.
“Listen, injury risk was our biggest concern tonight,” he said. “It’ll be Saturday when we practice at our normal time and Sunday. You keep your fingers crossed, but he’s fine. He just bumped into Clifton in front of the net and jammed his hand … so he kept playing and was fine. There’s no issue there.”
It’s certainly reassuring. And with a day off Friday and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final still four days away, there will be plenty of extra time for Marchand to rest … if he even needs it.
Here are some other notes from Thursday’s scrimmage.
— David Krejci did not play Thursday night. Cassidy revealed postgame the center was sick.
“David Krejci, by the way, was ill,” he said after the scrimmage. “He showed up tonight, had a bit of a fever so we sent him home.”
Cassidy added it was a “precautionary” move and, with having Friday off, felt it was best to not risk anything.
— TD Garden was sold out, and could be heard all night from “Let’s go Bruins!” chants to “We want the Cup!”
— Jake DeBrusk was “traded” mid-game.
The winger originally was on Team Black, but was swapped to Team White when it went on the power play. Team White scored shortly after that thanks to David Pastrnak.
— Tuukka Rask played one 25-minute period and gave up two goals.