Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Milan Lucic ready to go tonight after missing second straight morning skate

Tampa Bay Lightning v Boston Bruins - Game One

in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 14, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bruce Bennett

For the second straight day Milan Lucic missed the Bruins morning skate. Lucic took a puck off his leg during an earlier Bruins practice off the stick of Tyler Seguin. Given how hot Seguin’s been in this series, we’re surprised that Lucic didn’t catch on fire from being struck by it. Still, the shot hurt him a bit and he’s managing ways to stay healthy enough to play on it.

If you think this is foreboding for the power forward’s status for tonight’s Game 3, Bruins coach Claude Julien might find you to be a bit ridiculous.

CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty gets the update from Julien on Lucic’s health and how perhaps we’re all reading into things a bit too closely.

“[Lucic has] no issues,” Julien said. “He’s going to be in tonight. During the playoffs certain things you do, and give guys time off for whatever reason. He’ll be there.

“There won’t be any excuses to his game at all. You’ve seen Recchi get some time [off], but Recchi this morning wanted to go on. So there are very minor issues when it comes to that.”


Lucic getting time off because he’s a little banged up is OK since the Bruins would rather have him out on the ice putting the body to opponents rather than in practice potentially getting dinged up by his teammates one way or another. Lucic being thrown into the same discussion for time off with Mark Recchi is a bit amusing though since Recchi is getting the time off thanks to being 43 years-old. Lucic isn’t even 23 yet so clearly he’s got some bumps and bruises nagging at him.

Lucic hasn’t been quite the player the Bruins were hoping to see in the playoffs that they had in the regular season. During the season, Lucic scored 30 goals and added 32 assists making for an outstanding season from the power forward. In these playoffs, however, he’s got just two goals and three assists and hasn’t been the dominating physical presence the Bruins normally expect him to be. The rest should help him out though and getting him as close to 100% without having to sit him out any games is for the best.