After a day’s rest, the Bruins are back at Ristuccia Arena today for a scheduled team practice at 10:30am EST. Following a road trip out west in which consisted of three games in four days, the B’s managed to muscle-out a 1-1-1 record before returning home to face the Senators on Monday.

In wake of the 5-1 debacle of a defeat, the Bruins hinted that the long, hard-fought road trip was partially to blame. I agree. With a depleted lineup, top-line players were playing above average minutes against three very, very good teams.

As we point toward the fatigued legs and crammed schedule is a good “excuse” this time, on ProHockeyNews.com, I pointed out a few players [Wideman] who played more minutes than expected, or deserving. On the same hand, there were other players that warranted more time [Sobotka], especially with numerous forwards out.

If head coach Claude Julien is to reward players – that skate and play with extra effort – with added ice time, he needs to come through and make good with that statement.

Read the entire article on ProHockeyNews.com, here