Brett Connolly could play against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Boston Bruins might finally get to see what Johnny Boychuk cost them. Bruins forward Brett Connolly has been taken off injured-reserve, and is listed as a maybe for tomorrow night’s game. It’s going to be a very important match up for the Black and Gold. The Bruins are just two points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the third playoff slot in the Atlantic Division. A win tonight would practically give Boston a berth, and cast serious doubt on the Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers seeing the post-season.
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“€œWe know that Connolly is pretty close to [a return], so we may have to move things around, said Bruins head coach Claude Julien on Connolly’s status. So this is where you get a chance to try things in practice. You move players around and see what players look like.
“€œI haven’t been told yet [if Connolly is cleared to play]. Just to clarify things, he was never on IR. He didn’€™t need to be cleared yesterday to take part in the warm-up. I haven’€™t heard any doctors giving me the okay yet. We both know he’€™s getting pretty close. So I’€™m not going to write him off for tomorrow, but I’€™m not going to say that he’€™s in for sure.”
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If Connolly ends up in tomorrow night’s game, he’ll likely end up on the Bruins top line. He’ll be paired with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. This can bring an exciting edge to the Bruins top line and give the B’s three solid lines that can bring offensive production. It will also be a promotion for the twenty-two year old, who spent the majority of his time in a third line role for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had fifteen points(twelve goals) in fifty games for the Bolts.
“I feel good enough [to play]. I feel good enough to go,”€ said Connolly. “€œObviously you want to get in right away. I feel ready. You get excited obviously with everything that happened coming in here. It’€™s been a hard three weeks of not being with the guys, and not being on the road. For a new guy coming in that’€™s been tough, but the guys here have been great.”
Hopefully, Connolly gets to play. There is still plenty of angst from the fans over the Boychuk trade. While there are fans who will never forgive Peter Chiarelli for trading him, their anger will be off-set by some solid production by a former first round draft pick.