WILMINGTON, Mass. – Veteran goaltender Jonas Gustavsson had a nice first impression with the Bruins after putting together a shutout effort in his half-game debut against the New Jersey Devils, but he hasn’t been able to follow it up as of yet.
Gustavsson was originally scheduled to split time in Thursday night’s shootout win over the New York Rangers before having to leave the team for personal reasons. He was still away from the team for Saturday’s practice at Ristuccia Arena. Claude Julien said the Swedish netminder would be returning to camp “probably in the next day or so.”
The 30-year-old Gustavsson is with the Bruins on a veteran tryout agreement and is embroiled with three other goalies competing for the backup spot behind Tuukka Rask. Gustavsson played well in his aforementioned debut, Subban was equally good in his first appearance against the Capitals earlier this week.
Smith slumped a bit Thursday night with a subpar effort where he allowed three goals on 25 shots in an eventual shootout win.
Gustavsson played in seven games for the Red Wings last season with a 3-3-1 record to go along with a 2.56 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage while battling through shoulder and concussion issues in Detroit. Subban will be getting the start on Saturday night against the Red Wings and is scheduled to play the entire 60 minutes in Detroit.