Bruins Get to Work Ahead of Game 1

BOSTON - With a historic regular season now in the rearview, the Bruins' focus shifted to the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena ahead of Game 1 against the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
"It's exciting," said coach Jim Montgomery. "This is the best time of the year when you get ready for playoffs. I love going against the same team. As a coach, it's where you do a lot of adjustments, simple adjustments. It's where you try to get your players to elevate their game and believe what they do on the ice is going to make a difference."

The Bruins are set to take on the Panthers in a battle of the last two Presidents' Trophy winners. Florida is one of two teams - with Ottawa being the other - to beat Boston twice this season, as the clubs split the four-game season series.
"You look at the four games, it was a real tight series," said Montgomery. "Every game was tight. They're a good hockey team. They were in our shoes last year as Presidents' Trophy winners. And I think that since the All-Star break, the record is one of the top six teams in the league. I think they're playing faster. And their transition offense is something that has been excellent for three years and continues to be so."

On the Injury Front

After leaving Thursday night's game in Montreal for precautionary reasons due to an upper-body injury, Patrice Bergeron remained off the ice on Saturday morning. Montgomery termed his absence as "extra rest."
"He's had a long year," said Montgomery. "It's something that he's dealt with before and he knows how to deal with it."
Brad Marchand also left the skate early, while Matt Grzelcyk was kept out of the scrimmage portion of the session.
"Marchy wanted to give it a try today…he had a little bit of soreness, so I said, 'get off the ice,'" said Montgomery. "And we knew it was going to be hard practice. So, we're very cautious, even Grizzy is a little sore, so he didn't partake in the scrimmage portion of it.
"It's just precautionary. And then the reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we're looking at [Nick] Foligno and [Derek] Forbort. We want to see where their conditioning at game speed is and how they react to that."
Montgomery was quite pleased with how well Foligno was skating, though he felt that Forbort exhibited a bit of rust. Foligno has not played since Feb. 28, while Forbort has been out since March 16.
"I feel great. Physically and mentally, just really good," said Foligno. "Used the time wisely that I had, unfortunately, been given to reset in a lot of ways, too, and be ready for this…you're not promising anything, obviously, but just being the best version of myself and for this club.
"That's what we've always asked of every guy coming back from injury. And I feel like this time has really given me that opportunity and I'm looking forward to being back with you guys there."
Linus Ullmark, who left Tuesday's game vs. Washington as a precaution and did not dress for the regular-season finale in Montreal, was back at practice. Boston's bench boss said that goalie coach Bob Essensa has yet to decide on a starter for Game 1.
"We don't have any issues with him," said Montgomery. "He was out there in practice, and I thought he performed well."
David Krejci, who missed the last six games of the regular season, was a full participant in the session.

Saturday's Practice Lineup

FORWARDS
Brad Marchand - Pavel Zacha - Jake DeBrusk
Tyler Bertuzzi - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall - Charlie Coyle - Trent Frederic
Nick Foligno - Tomas Nosek - Garnet Hathaway
A.J. Greer - Jakub Lauko
DEFENSEMEN
Dmitry Orlov - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Connor Clifton
Jakub Zboril - Matt Grzelcyk
GOALIES
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman