It was a short, but spirited, practice today at Ristuccia Arena. Absent were Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference, though Mark Stuart participated in most drills. If only every practice could be as high-energy as the day after a statement win - even in the locker room, the atmosphere was light yet crowded, chirps flying back and forth with as much frequency as jerseys toward the laundry bin.

It was the perfect environment for Matt Bartkowski, who made his practice debut today.

"Comfort level's the main thing," Bartkowski noted as the main thing he took out of getting in a practice instead of just being thrown into a game, as was the case earlier in the week.

Check out today's videos from practice.

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It appears that Matt Hunwick has gone out with a bang - quite literally. The young defenseman will move to Denver and join the Avalanche, as the Bruins have traded him for BU alum Colby Cohen.

Colby Cohen squares off against BC's Paul Corey last year. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Bruins fans will get to remember Hunwick by his last fight with Evander Kane in Sunday's lackluster effort against Atlanta - a feisty scrap against a young, established fighter, and only Hunwick's second professional fight.

The move is entirely a cap-clearing one, as the Bruins will assign Cohen to Providence upon his return to New England. It clears plenty of space for Marc Savard's imminent return - Hunwick's cap hit was $1.4 million/year, while $1.1 million needed to be cleared.

For those of you fretting over the loss of Hunwick - and who don't know why the addition of Colby Cohen to the organization is a fun, interesting one - you need only watch this video to understand. In the NCAA Championship two years ago, Cohen slammed home the game-winner in overtime, winning the game and capping off the most spectacular comeback in recent history.

 

Although the move of Hunwick left many people stunned, the addition of Cohen to Providence's back end will be a good fill in for Steven Kampfer while he's injured - and also opens doors for Adam McQuaid, the perpetual seventh defenseman until now. Cohen hasn't put much up offensively in Lake Erie (Colorado's AHL affiliate) but he's only seen 14 games this season. He earned a 3-game callup to Colorado - as a young defenseman with limited NHL experience, he could serve as seventh defenseman in a pinch if necessary for Boston, leaving Matt Bartkowski and Yury Alexandrov more time to develop.

This absolutely biased writer is thrilled that the Bruins have added two Boston University players to their prospect lineup this year. Go Terriers, indeed.

More from the P-Bruins official press release....

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On a day in which Marc Savard saw his first bit of contact and David Krejci, Marco Sturm, and Jordan Caron were all but quarantined with a touch of the flu, at least one member of the Bruins organization received good news - Jamie Arniel, the P-Bruins' leading scorer, was called up to make the trip to Atlanta.

Arniel, who was one of the few players coach Rob Murray was actually happy with in last night's painful 4-1 loss to the Worcester Sharks, is leading that team in points with 16 and goals with 9, trailed by Steven Kampfer with 17 points and Jordan Knackstedt with seven goals. Arniel, despite his callup to the Boston squad to sit in the press box for the November 10th contest against Pittsburgh, is one of ten P-Bruins to have appeared in all 19 contests for the AHL club. He's currently riding a six-game point streak in which he has three goals and four assists; he has four multi-point games for Providence this season, as well.

Jamie Arniel against the Worcester Sharks on Friday night.

After the jump, where Arniel might fit in on the Boston squad, plus Savvy's first contact practice...

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Ilya Kovalchuk made his first appearance of the season at TD Garden to a decided lack of fanfare last night.

Kovalchuk, who signed a 15-year, $100 million contract with the New Jersey Devils during the offseason, has been snakebit as they come this season, scoring only four goals in his team's 18 games, and going so far as to let the puck drift off his stick during a shootout against the Sabres last week. 

Against Boston, Kovalchuk failed to tally, registering only two shots in 16:43 ice time and finishing the night a minus-one. He is currently a minus-nine on the season, having been on the ice for the same number of opponent's goals as goals he's had a hand in. 


After the jump, more about the Devils' struggles with Kovalchuk..
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It was an optional skate today at Ristuccia for the Bruins, who came off a 3-0 win last night at TD Garden - their first home win in over two weeks - against the struggling New Jersey Devils. A good number of players chose not to take their option, and joined the injured corps of Marco Sturm, Marc Savard, Johnny Boychuk, and David Krejci for a good, lighthearted practice run by assistant coach Doug Jarvis.

The opted-in B's worked on drills for a while before switching to a quick shootout game - in which Sturm scored a spectacular one, and Tuukka Rask denied most other attempts (Tim Thomas took his option today - well earned after last night's shutout victory) including a Greg Campbell shot that almost trickled over the goal line, prompting a comical shouting match between the forward and the goalie. Despite drama surrounding some emails from his father about a current teammate, Campbell continues to be in good spirits, focusing solely on the games ahead of him. His comraderie with Brad Marchand is a comical sight to be seen.

The highlight of today's practice, however, was definitely an Adam McQuaid slapshot - that's right, Adam McQuaid - not Zdeno Chara or Johnny Boychuk - which was the cause of Ristuccia's first damage this season. Marc Savard and David Krejci didn't help the situation - the glass, about half-destroyed from McQuaid's bomb, shattered completely as the two centers took potshot wristers at it.


As his team practiced, Claude Julien spoke on the team's game tomorrow against the Rangers, who defeated Pittsburgh in dramatic fashion last night.

"They came out with a pretty impresive victory there last night, being down with a little over a minute left and scoring a shorthanded goal, winning it in overtime. That builds confidence, so I think we're going to be playing a team that's got a lot of confidence that's usually hard to play against. We've had our fair share of battles with these guys, and for the most part they've always been close games. We've got to find a way to solve their goaltending situation, and at the same time we've got to know going into their building they play hard. they're tough around our net, they certainly like to jam the net - we'll have to be at our best and make sure we're patient, take advantage of any chances we get."

The team travelled to New York this afternoon, where they'll play in their coach's 500th game tomorrow night ("long way to go to a thousand, eh?" Julien joked) - and whether Krejci or Boychuk cracks the lineup remains to be seen - both players are day-to-day, and according to Julien, their insertion into the lineup against New York will be based entirely on their performance in morning skate tomorrow.
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Let's face it: Saturday's game against Ottawa was ugly. It was, in some ways, epitomized by captain Zdeno Chara's attempted fight with Chris Neil: his heart was in it, but before too long, he fell flat and couldn't capitalize on his opportunity. It's a recent trend that needs to stop, and soon.

The Bruins, who have tended towards coming out flat and relying on third-period comebacks all too often lately, were unable to organize themselves and capitalize on any scoring chances. Their transition game, as Claude Julien pointed out, was nonexistant; they didn't make more than two consecutive passes connect cleanly all night.

And as highly-touted as Tyler Seguin has been, as great as Michael Ryder was to start the season - their line, with Daniel Paille, was on the ice for both goals against last night, and epitomized the loss - no connecting passes, no physical presence, looked like they were skating in mud. Check, check, and check - and loss.

 

After the jump - more from practice, an ECHL win for the Baby Bruins vs the Baby Caps, and Marc Savard skates sprints...
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It's not often that the opportunity comes along to cover a Bruins practice in another city. With tickets to the game on Friday squared away, the opportunity was too good to pass up. So one 6:30 AM flight (flying standby is never easier than at 6:30 AM!), a shuttle bus ride, and a quick carpool with our photographer, Bridget, later - I arrived in Arlington, Virginia, at the Capitals' practice facility.

Tuukka Rask takes in Caps practice. Photo by BridgetDS.

When the words "practice facility" come to mind, the average Bruins fan - and player - doesn't immediately think "two rinks, with a pro shop, two floors, and a built-in restaurant - all on the eighth floor of a mall." And yet that's where the Bruins started their day today, after travelling overnight from Buffalo last night - Kettler Capitals IcePlex, simply "Kettler" to the locals.

After the jump, more on today's road practice, plus a bit of local exploring....

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It's a stellar week for the Bruins organization - quite literally. In the same week that Tim Thomas was named not only the NHL's first star of the week, but also the second star of the month, Craig Cunningham, Bruins prospect currently playing his overage year for the Vancouver Giants, was named WHL player of the month for October.

Cunningham has 36 points through 18 games, including a ten-game points streak. He leads the league in scoring, and holds a +14 rating, good for second best on the Giants. Although he was offered an AHL contract, and could have played for the Providence Bruins this season (having completed four years of junior hockey), Cunningham opted to give his junior team one more shot, playing as an overage player in the Giants' 10-11 quest for the Memorial Cup. Cunningham's rookie season for the Giants was the last time that team won the Memorial Cup, with the assistance of the Bruins' Milan Lucic and former P-Bruin Wacey Rabbit, as well.

After the jump - updates from practice, links, and a small injury report....

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Good morning from Ristuccia. It's a late start for the Bruins today, practicing here in Wilmington at 11am. As of 10:40 this morning, Brian McGrattan was assigned to Providence for conditioning; aside from that, lines are as usual.

A bit of good reading, from the Puck Daddy Blog this morning: [As Bruins fans mock Kessel,  Boston media begins trade victory lap]

The Bruins started off the morning with shooting drills over a short bumper placed in front of the goal, in lieu of a goalie. They then progressed to breakout drills, with forwards taking off from the boards at center ice and defensemen in the center faceoff circle. From there, it was a quick chalk talk, before 3-on-2 breakaway drills.

Even in drills it's a hilarious-looking matchup, but it's impressive how Brad Marchand has no fear of going up against Zdeno Chara in practice, getting the body and speed ahead of Chara to try and get the puck off his stick. He's not always the most effective, but it's not for lack of trying.

Speaking of Marchand, the fourth line was just made to skate a quick sprint. Seems like that's the penalty for not scoring on Tuukka Rask within a set amount of time in this drill. Post drill, the entire team took a quick lap before stretches - nothing but smiles on the Bruins' faces today though, despte the intensity. Always a really good sign.

The team leaves for Ottawa immediately after practice, and hopefully can keep harnessing all this positive energy to bring home a win tomorrow against old foe Daniel Alfredsson and the Senators.

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Good morning from Ristuccia, where it's seemingly colder than normal....probably to counter the warmer-than-normal weather outside, gloomy as it may be.

Lines are the same as usual here at the ice box:

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