WILMINGTON, Mass. — Defenseman Mark Stuart skated during the Bruins’ optional practice at Ristuccia Arena this morning, but head coach Claude Julien says the blueliner will not play in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series with Philadelphia Wednesday night.
“He’s not ready for that yet,” Julien said after practice.
Stuart has to be medically cleared before he can go from practices to games and then he has to prove to the coaches that he’s ready conditioning-wise. When he came off the ice Stuart said he felt strong, just like the day before.
Published By mattk Tue. May 4, 2010 12:41 pm EDT
If they can upgrade from McQuaid to Stuart they would do it in a second and it would take some of the wear and tear off the top four guys to have someone on the third pair they can really trust.
Matt, do you think the B’s want to upset the current chemistry by bringing Stuart back in this series at all? Might be a different story after games 3 and 4 in Philly of course, but right now they may not want to change a thing.