BOSTON — Sean Kuraly worked too hard on Sunday morning to be able to play on Sunday night.
That was disappointing, but also encouraging.
"I feel great about Thursday," said the Bruins’ rookie center. "I’m feeling pretty much back to normal."
Thursday is when the Bruins have their Stanley Cup playoffs opener at TD Garden, and also when Kuraly expects to play for the first time [...]
BOSTON — Sean Kuraly worked too hard on Sunday morning to be able to play on Sunday night.
That was disappointing, but also encouraging.
“I feel great about Thursday,” said the Bruins’ rookie center. “I’m feeling pretty much back to normal.”
Thursday is when the Bruins have their Stanley Cup playoffs opener at TD Garden, and also when Kuraly expects to play for the first time since suffering an otherwise undisclosed upper-body injury on March 27 at Winnipeg. He had hoped to play in Sunday night’s regular-season finale against the Panthers, but after skating for only the third time since the injury, Kuraly was held out of the lineup for the seventh straight game.
“[Sunday] was a tough skate — that’s three in a row,” said Kuraly, who skated hard with injured winger Rick Nash under the direction of assistant coach Jay Pandolfo and skills/skating consultant Kim Brandvold. “Good skates, high tempo. I took a couple of bumps [on Saturday], and I’m feeling good — back to myself.”
Kuraly, 25, didn’t miss any of the season’s first 75 games, and established himself as an anchor on an effective fourth line between wingers Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari.
“It’s a tough time to get injured,” he said. “I played 75 games in a row, and I wanted to play all 82. You can’t really control some things that happen, though.”
Kuraly, who contributed six goals and 14 points in his fourth line/penalty-killer role, expects to practice early this week and, hopefully, be cleared to play Game 1.
“Getting back with the guys, giving passes to your teammates and receiving passes from your teammates, is a lot different than skating by yourself, or with one or two other guys,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being able to work with my teammates again. Hopefully that’ll come this week, and I’ll get back into action as soon as I can.”
The other Nash
Cassidy said center Riley Nash, who missed the season’s last five games after taking a puck in the ear on March 31 against the Panthers, may skate on Monday for the first time since the injury. Asked if he thought Riley Nash might be ready to play Game 1, Cassidy said, “Yeah, I think so. He’s got to get on the ice, see how he feels, get some contact, then go from there.”
Surprised by firing
Rick Nash, who suffered a concussion on March 17 at Tampa Bay, has now skated daily for nearly a week, but was also held out of Sunday’s game, bringing to 12 his games-missed total.
Nash isn’t finished for the season, though, which would have been the case if the Rangers hadn’t traded him to the B’s on Feb. 25. The Rangers, who missed this year’s playoffs, fired head coach Alain Vigneault after Saturday’s season-ending, 5-0 loss to the Flyers.
“I’m definitely surprised,” said Nash, a Ranger for all five years Vigneault coached them. “I like AV a lot as a coach.”
Nash, who cost the Bruins center Ryan Spooner, journeyman winger Matt Beleskey, defense prospect Ryan Lindgren, a first-round pick in this year’s entry draft and a seventh-rounder in 2019, had hoped to play Sunday’s game as a pre-playoffs tuneup, but said he “talked with the coaches and management, and we decided it would be more beneficial to get [conditioning] skates in like [Sunday], and take the extra days to get ready for Game 1.”
Head coach Bruce Cassidy has begun operating on the assumption that Kuraly and Nash will be available for Game 1 on Thursday.
“Now I am,” the coach said. “They skated with us [Saturday], skated [Sunday]. They dealt with a little more people out there [Saturday]. It wasn’t a full practice by any means, but they’ll get Tuesday and Wednesday … Getting through that, obviously, will be the next test, but they seem to be progressing well.”
Around the boards
Rookie defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who was given Saturday night off, returned to the lineup on Sunday, paired with veteran Adam McQuaid. Nick Holden was the healthy scratch. … Ryan Donato, a winger on David Krejci’s line for most of his first 11 games, centered Danton Heinen and Brian Gionta on Sunday. David Backes moved up to play with Krejci and rookie Jake DeBrusk. … Schaller and David Pastrnak were the only two to play all 82 games for the Bruins, whose man-games missed to injury total came in at 304.