WINNIPEG \u2013\u2013 The Boston Bruins could be getting Charlie McAvoy back.<\/p>\n
The defenseman will be a game-time decision for Thursday\u2019s 8 p.m. ET matchup against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre, head coach Marco Sturm said. McAvoy was in a regular jersey during the B\u2019s optional morning skate.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday felt good, and then we just monitor it throughout the day. I have to go talk to the trainers right now. Don\u2019t have an answer for you yet, but see how the rest of the day goes,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mutual, it\u2019s a team decision. It\u2019s a group of people that we rely on to make sure we\u2019re doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200bMcAvoy took a puck to the jaw on Nov. 15 in Montreal and underwent facial surgery. He has been practicing with the team for the past week, continuing to gain weight and build stamina after being on an all-liquid diet during his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely getting better,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cAble to do more, so you\u2019re able to kind of work on your conditioning again, getting that part back. Honesty, whenever it is, the best way to get conditioning back is to just play in the game. I think that\u2019s coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The alternate captain\u2019s grit and perseverance to return for the Bruins have been a lift for his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to see him out there, just the presence alone he brings on the ice and off the ice, in the locker room, it\u2019s just a lot. I can see it, we can feel it,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cIt is nice to have him back. Seeing that smile on his face, it\u2019s been a while. It\u2019s been a tough road for him. He is our leader, so it is nice to have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan Geekie, who leads Boston with 22 goals (which is second-most in the NHL), will have some extra fans in the building on Thursday. The Manitoba native\u2019s mom, dad, aunt and others from his hometown of Strathclair are coming to watch the game.<\/p>\n
While Geekie has turned into one of the best goalscorers in the league, he does not feel the stardom.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it doesn\u2019t really change much,\u201d Geekie said. \u201cThose people that I grew up with in the community, they would still say hi to me no matter what I was doing if I was walking down the street. It\u2019s cool, and I really appreciate them coming. But at least for me, it doesn\u2019t change a whole lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2013\u2013 The Boston Bruins could be getting Charlie McAvoy back. The defenseman will be a game-time decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-343084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}