Hall Returns And McAvoy Will Play For Bruins Vs. Devils

Boston Bruins winger Taylor Hall has officially been cleared to play and return to the Bruins lineup tonight against the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden.

Speaking in his game day press briefing, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery termed Hall’s health to be ‘100 %’.

Montgomery had more good news as well. Montgomery also told reporters that defenseman Charlie McAvoy – who left in the second period and did not return to the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday – will also be back in the lineup on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+).

A lower-body injury has kept Taylor Hall out of the last 20 games for the Boston Bruins. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound, 31-year-old winger has 16 goals and 20 assists in 58 games this season. Hall has been skating with his team in practice in a full contact jersey since Wednesday.

As Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand pointed out, Hall’s blazing speed and raw skill will be a welcome addition back to a Bruins lineup that could use a scoring boost on their power play.

“His speed, his skill set,” Marchand immediately replied when asked how Hall can spark the Bruins dormant power play. “That’s tough to duplicate out there. He creates a ton of opportunities with the way that he attacks the O-zone from the blue line. In a really fast league both ways, he puts the D on their heels, and that’s tough to do consistently but he does it.”

Unfortunately for the Boston Bruins, veteran center David Krejci (lower-body), will miss his third-straight game on Saturday night, and likely a fourth-straight game on Sunday when the Bruins face the Flyers in Philadelphia. Based on what Montgomery said on Thursday night, the probability of Krejci returning before the 2022-23 regular season concludes for the Bruins in Montreal on Thursday night, is pretty slim.

‘Krech has got some real soreness right now,” the Boston Bruins bench boss said. “So we want to make sure everyone’s feeling really good. When you have some soft tissue and some stuff, you don’t want it to get to a point where it’s chronic.”