After just over three weeks off, the Boston Bruins are set to resume the 2025-26 season on Thursday night at the TD Garden. The Black and Gold will welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to Boston in what is a huge battle for the Eastern Conference playoff race. Columbus begins just four points from the second wild-card spot.
As far as Bruins who took part in the Olympics, they were back at the TD Garden on Tuesday for practice. David Pastrnak, Henri Jokiharju, Joonas Korpisalo, Elias Lindholm, and Hampus Lindholm were there. For head coach Marco Sturm, it was good having the gang back.
“It is nice to have them back healthy. Today actually felt like a practice,” Sturm said. “The few days, it’s been tough; we only had three lines, it was just a little different. But we made it work, and today was definitely a better day."
Goalie Jeremy Swayman and defenseman Charlie McAvoy were not at practice as they are still with the Gold Medal-winning Team USA teammates. If I were to guess, Korpisalo is likely to get the first call between the pipes against the surging Blue Jackets.
Bruins facing daunting March schedule
Like everyone else, the Bruins are going to be facing a daunting March schedule with 16 games. However, the two right after the break in February against Columbus and the Philadelphia Flyers are just as important. Boston is looking to continue the moment they built before the break.
“It’s not just for us, I think, for everyone in this league, it is a challenge. You totally get away from the game and from the environment that we have here, but also, the good things that were happening around our team. The focus, the play, on ice, off ice. It was fun to watch,” Sturm said.
“That is going to be our focus again to have that game one on Thursday. Because you don’t want to lose that. We put ourselves in a very, very good position right now, and we don’t want to lose it. We want to stay in the hunt, and we want to continue to play the same way we did in the past.”
Success in March is necessary as April is brutal schedule in terms of road games for the Black and Gold.
Bruins call-up Michael DiPietro
With Swayman still away with Team USA, the Bruins again recalled goalie Michael DiPietro from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League on an emergency basis. The good news is that there was no one else called up, with Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm expected back in the lineup after missing the final couple of games before the break with injuries.