Boston Bruins: Players missing from practice shouldn’t be a concern

The Boston Bruins were missing a few key players at their Wednesday afternoon practice, but we’re hoping it’s nothing to be majorly concerned about.

Fourth liner Chris Wagner was missing, injured blocking a shot during the Boston Bruins’ Game 3 victory. On top of Wagner, goaltender Tuukka Rask, captain Zdeno Chara and defenseman Steven Kampfer were all not on the ice.

You’d have to assume, at least in the case of team captain Chara that a maintenance day was the reasoning. Given the giant defenseman is in his forties, it’d be quite fair to limit the amount he practices, especially ahead of a potential series-clinching Game 4.

Tuukka Rask was made to work incredibly hard, especially in the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3. He stopped 20 shots in that period alone, as the Boston Bruins struggled early on. Much like the team captain, it’s quite plausible that the team staff saw his heavy workload on Tuesday night and decided that taking Wednesday off would be wise.

The only real curiosity is Steven Kampfer as he last suited up for a game on May 9th, when the Boston Bruins opened their Eastern Conference final series at TD Garden. For that game, he was required due to a one-game suspension ruling out Charlie McAvoy.

Obviously, it’s all quite normal for teams to rest players at times; modern sports science dictates that rest is better than over-working your players, after all. It’s probably safe to suggest that it’s the sole reason any of the Boston Bruins team missed a practice skate – hockey players don’t tend to sit down too easily otherwise.

Chris Wagner is the only exception to that; he is believed to have travelled back to Boston to have his injury checked out to determine if he will see any further play-off action this year. It’s a pretty unfortunate one for the player, given he netted the opening goal in Game 3 and along with his fellow fourth-liners, really gave the Hurricanes a lot of hassle.

Moving forward, the Boston Bruins could well be in line for almost a week of rest, especially given the Western Conference final between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues is already guaranteed to go to at least five games. That will no doubt be well needed by that point and could well prove a difference maker, provided of course the Bruins wrap things up in Game 4.