BRIGHTON -- The Bruins got some good news in the health department Sunday as both Brandon Carlo and Colin Miller took to the ice and skated with a small group of B's players at Warrior Ice Arena.
Carlo hasn't played since suffering an upper body injury in a collision with Alex Ovechkin in the regular-season finale eight days ago. But even though interim coach Bruce Cassidy termed him "doubtful" for Monday night's Game 3 against the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for his availability after that.
Miller missed Game 2 after a leg-on-leg hit from Mark Borowiecki in Game 1, but may be a strong possibility for Game 3 given that the Bruins didn't dip into Providence for reinforcements Sunday. Both Torey Krug (lower body) and Adam McQuaid (upper body) didn't skate at all for the Bruins on Sunday, and that D-man duo would seem to have zero chance of playing on Monday night.
But the return of Miller, followed closely thereafter by the return of Carlo, would be major boost to the Bruins, who are down too many top-4 defensemen right now.
"Colin Miller was skating and looking better, so there's a potential [Game 3 option]," said Cassidy. "Carlo was out early and he did okay. Tomorrow is doubtful [for Carlo] and maybe going forward is a bit of a target date . . .
"We would like to get our guys back as quickly as possible," said Cassidy. "It's mostly the back end that's a little congested, so we'll see how everybody takes it tomorrow and see if they can get through morning skate. After morning skate we'll go from there."
The undermanned Bruins would love to get as many healthy bodies back as quickly as possible, as it's going to be a difficult playoff ride for them if they have to give Charlie McAvoy (27-plus minutes in Game 2 on Saturday) and Zdeno Chara (30-plus minutes) such heavy workloads for the rest of the series.